I thank Deputy Murphy for shouting me down again. I know his party is having difficulty this week as they will not take questions from some journalists if they do not like the questions. When he comes to the House, he asks me a question and will not allow me to answer it. He does not take questions from some and does not accept answers from others. Do not shout me down, please, on an important issue. With regard to this situation, I have made it very clear what Irish law states. As a Government Minister and a leade…

I will wait until the Deputy is finished. I thank him.

He is coming over to me. I thank the Deputy for that but, obviously, the process through which the Government will go is examining the allegations. The Department of Transport is examining them. I agree that any breaches of Irish law must of course have a consequence. Irish law matters. I am very clear on that, as is the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport. If there have been breaches of Irish sovereign law, decisions will need to be taken on the next steps based on clear and robust evidence. We also need to b…

Deputy Gogarty is right in pretty much every word he said. This is an area that requires a lot more action and, as we have said before, and we mean it by our actions at both an EU and a domestic level, the era of self-regulation is over. We were talking about trade and tariffs a few moments ago; let us talk about another thing - values. Our values in this country and our values as Europeans matter too. Regulating social media companies - companies that can do good - is really important. Getting this right is really…

Deputy Gogarty is not doing this, but sometimes we can blame the European Union. The European Union has given us pretty decent legislative infrastructure here. It is now up to member states, including Ireland, to decide how we wish to utilise that. The era of self-regulation is over beyond my just saying it in the sense that there are now codes in place and there is now an ability to fine companies that do not comply with the codes. I am genuinely concerned about the age verification piece. Of course, we must empow…

I thank Deputy Doherty very much. I note with interest the debate that took place in the Northern Ireland Assembly this week and the outcome of it. I will engage with my Government colleagues, including the Taoiseach, in relation to this matter. I am supportive of the principle. I think there is logic in it in terms of a Government timeline and the likes. I will need to discuss that with Government colleagues and revert to the Deputy.

He is behind you.

As the Deputy can imagine, this is an issue I am very alert to and aware of in a very practical sense. My hometown is one that has seen an adverse impact from this change. Admittedly, many other areas have seen fares decrease. I do not think it is good that we are seeing one town nearly being pitted against another as a result of this fare structure. We have taken several measures to reduce public transport fares that I am proud of. We did that together in the last Government. I would like to meet the NTA regarding…

I thank Deputy Rice very much. I agree with him in general that we must come up with systems to drive forward infrastructure projects in a more timely manner. This is why we have set up the new infrastructure division of the Department of public expenditure and reform. I think we all hear this issue raised in our constituencies. To the people of Cork regarding the decisions we are taking, I would say that the Crawford Gallery is an example of a project that had been knocking around for quite a while. We took a big …

No.

I know we do not agree on much, but I thought one of the things we could agree on was our concern around the activities of some who are loosely termed the "far right" who turn up and intimidate and wear balaclavas and face masks. They stood outside your house and my house shouting and roaring and causing significant concern to people in terms of their safety. This is a sensible initiative in respect of a garda being able to direct a person to remove clothing that is being worn to make themselves unidentifiable. It …

I thank Deputy Collins. I watched in admiration how he managed to bring a Longford school back to a Cork connection. It was nicely done and I join him in welcoming the students Deputy Carrigy has brought to the Dáil today. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their day. I thank Deputy Collins for his question and for raising this important issue. He and I know that HIQA is the statutory independent regulator. We all appreciate that and the role it has to play in ensuring nursing homes are safe and effective.…

I thank Deputy Crowe for highlighting this issue. I take the issue of animal welfare seriously. Far too often in our country, we hear of the mistreatment of horses. We often see images on social media and elsewhere that can be extremely distressing. I think the Deputy's point is right. I have been asking about this for a while. The legislation on this is pretty robust, but perhaps there are issues relating to enforcement and how we can get better at enforcing it. In light of the Deputy raising this issue, I will as…

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the cost of insurance and the impact that can have on consumers, businesses and so many parts of our lives, our economy and our society. I know that the Government is working its way through that issue at the moment relating to the PIAB guidelines. The Deputy has made a sensible suggestion to look at the length of time for the reviews, which I think is probably too frequent. I know that the Government, led in this area by the Minister for Justice, will give cons…

I thank the Deputy for bringing that issue to my attention. I will certainly speak with the Minister for housing and ask that he reply to the Deputy directly. As the Deputy has rightly said, the Government took a funding decision with regard to this. We are living through a housing emergency. We need to see these projects move, so I will ask the Minister to come back to him.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I undertake to speak with the Minister for Justice and the Minister for further and higher education about this. From my memory, I know changes were made in the regulation and oversight of that sector. I also agree that students who come here are making an important contribution with the part-time work they carry out. I know many businesses in rural and urban Ireland are reliant on those workers. I will raise the issue the Deputy has brought to our attention dire…

Deputy Currie makes an important point. How do we make sure we are hearing all of the voices we need to hear when making policy decisions? How do we be as inclusive as possible? I remember well that visit to Castleknock and being in a relatively new coffee shop with the Deputy for a lovely cup of coffee. What was it called?

I remember being in Melo and meeting the young woman running it, and indeed her mother. As is often the case in family businesses, everyone was pitching in. I remember them talking honestly to us about the costs of small business. We have made a number of decisions recently as a Government, not all of which are popular, to try to recognise that when we come up with a good idea in here, it is not us who have to pay for it. It is often the small business, and we have to get that balance right. We are going to set up …

First, let me reject entirely the assertion with regard to the Uisce Éireann funding model. The full trawl of documents, which I have no doubt committees and others will look at, will show that the €1 billion was additional funding. Indeed, those of us who were in government at the time very much remember that. Of course, it is true to say that and also to say the next thing, which is the broader point the Deputy is getting at, that it is not going to be enough. There are towns and villages right across Ireland, ru…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman. I acknowledge that he put a real emphasis on this in the previous Government. It is not simply about strong words, although I do think words matter, and I do think speaking out and speaking up matters. Quite frankly, there are a lot of countries not speaking out and speaking up the way Ireland is. Find me another European country that has referred to the actions of Israel in terms of war crimes. We going to continue - and it is not a case of letter writing - to put pressure to build a coali…