Everybody is talking-----

With respect to Deputies Devine and Ó Snodaigh, that has nothing to do with child protection. It is absolutely nothing to do with the point. Everyone is talking about 33 children. Why is nobody saying the next bit, which is that they are travelling from one far-flung part of the world to another with adults who are not their parents and the importance of child protection checks in relation to that? It is a perfectly appropriate thing to do. No migration service and no Minister for justice would be doing their job i…

It is worked through the system.

The Deputy will not resolve this by shouting.

I thank Deputy Daly for this. He is so right. The Government is absolutely at one in recognising that just because inflation has fallen, it does not mean the cost of going to the supermarket has fallen as well. The cost of living still remains high. People see that in their weekly shop. They see it when they go to the checkout with their trolley. While we have been very clear that there will not be a cost of living specific measure between September, October and December, that is not to say that a budget of over €1…

I thank Deputy Currie for her work as Fine Gael spokesperson on childcare and as part of the Government's collective effort on childcare. The programme for Government is ambitious in this area. As we have discussed before, there are around 21 commitments in relation to childcare. The next step will be the publication of a new action plan on childcare and how we intend to advance it. I broadly agree with the Deputy. We do not want a system that is overly rigid. We have to have a system that recognises parents need t…

I thank the Deputy for bringing this to my attention. I was not aware of it but it needs to be stopped. There are enough challenges for people trying to get these tests without somebody gaming the system and exploiting people looking for a test. I will raise it in the first instance with the Minister for Transport.

I think Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I find ourselves in large agreement with a lot of what Deputy Kelly said. I know I get myself in trouble from time to time for saying these sorts of things but the cost-of-living challenge is still very real for people. We have to acknowledge that. We have to prudently budget and carefully work our way through things and always protect our economy. We can quote all the economic statistics we want but the cost of living is still very challenging for many people I would loosely ref…

Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, as the Minister of State responsible for mental health to look at the serious points Deputy Cahill made. It sounds like there is a lot of stress and concern in the local community. I know the Minister of State will be eager to constructively engage with him and the HSE on this matter. I will ask her to come back directly to the Deputy.

I welcome this opportunity to set out the Government position on the situation in the Middle East. The region is experiencing a period of significant jeopardy and instability with multiple crises playing out, many of which are interrelated and all of which threaten further escalation, further destruction and further devastating loss of civilian lives. I will turn first to the appalling and deteriorating situation in Gaza, where we continue to witness the unending horrors of a brutal onslaught - a clear genocide. Mo…

I do not want to interrupt.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I want to acknowledge at the outset, because it is true, that people in this country are still finding the cost of living a very significant issue. I know that, the Deputy knows that and there is not a TD in Dáil Éireann who is not aware of that in their own community and from their own constituency work. I want to be clear the Government is taking action in the here and now in a variety of areas. It is not a question of the Government saying people have to wait until the …

The Deputy is accusing me of saying things that I never said. Nobody suggested here that anyone is patting themselves on the back. What I did for the people watching at home was push back against the Deputy's misinformation and disinformation that the Government is not taking action on the cost of living. People know the record of this Government in helping them through the past number of years. They know how many measures we took. However, I am also making the point because I do not want fear and anxiety to be sew…

That is why they voted to put a centrist Government back in office.

I thank the Deputy for highlighting what is the biggest domestic emergency we face in this country - the issue of housing. It is nowhere more acute than when it comes to children. We are united on that. I have huge respect for the Ombudsman of Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, for the work of his office and his independence. Both of the parties in government established this structure because it is good to have somebody to hold the feet of Government to the coals and keep us under pressure. The points he made this week …

I wish the assure to Deputy that it is. I also assure him that I am aware of the mountain that needs to be climbed to where we need to get to. We will give consideration very much to how we take forward the views of the Ombudsman for Children, whether that is through bespoke strategies or reflected in specific actions in the new housing plan. He is not wrong regarding the need for a renewed focus for children and family homelessness. I will ask the Minister to revert to the Deputy on the Labour Party Bill. It not j…

They are not going to Gaza.

That was quite an extraordinary attempt to suggest that the country in the European Union, which has done more for and in standing by the people of Palestine is somehow or other complicit in an illegal, despicable genocide that is taking place.

There you go. You said it now. The mask slips very quickly with you, Deputy.

The way this place works is that the Deputy asks a question and then I have the right to answer. It is a democracy, so I ask that my mandate be respected too because I would like to answer the question. Surely to God, it does not need to be the case in everything that the Deputy is morally superior than everyone over here. Surely to God, sometimes we can actually recognise that it does not matter what our politics are or where we are on the political spectrum. We are all sickened by the genocide and we are not divi…