You lost again.

Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle. I will start by congratulating you on your election. It is a great honour to serve as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, as the Speaker of our Parliament and as custodian of this House. I know you will serve with diligence, impartiality and decency. I think we know you are from Wexford from those opening contributions, and I know that is very important to you too. I join with you in thanking the outgoing Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who served for eight years with absolu…

It is not lost on any of us that Deputy Murphy makes history today by becoming the first female Ceann Comhairle. That is a long-awaited milestone moment in Irish politics. I sincerely wish you all the best as you discharge your duties. Colleagues, as we gather here today, I want to pay tribute to each of you for securing the support of your families, friends, neighbours and constituents and for securing your own individual mandate to serve in this, the Thirty-fourth Dáil. I particularly pay tribute to all 64 of our…

I agreed with the Clerk earlier that I rolled my contribution into one.

They just think you should do three.

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this issue. I will make a number of points. First, when the Deputy talks about the state of our economy in terms of the use of taxpayers' money, she leaves out a number of facts. She leaves out the fact that this is a country running a budget surplus and that we have managed to put aside billions of euro to protect people from future economic shocks. That decision is looking even better today than it was yesterday in light of global issues. The Deputy forgets that we are able to …

Turn up the radio.

Is it the Deputy's position that phone pouches are bad here but phone pouches are good in Northern Ireland? If it is not, will she call on the Sinn Féin Minister of Finance in Northern Ireland today to speak to her Executive colleague and stop the roll-out of the phone pouches in Northern Ireland? In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin has already spent £250,000 on the provision of phone pouches, so phone pouches are clearly good for children-----

-----in Northern Ireland but not good down here. Then you should really stop-----

I am sorry, I am allowed speak if that is okay. That is the first point.

The second point is the Deputy says she has not met these people. She must not be listening to the radio because there have been schoolchildren on the radio talking about the benefit in their schools. I referenced a school principal there from De La Salle College, Churchtown. On Tuesday, 5 November an article by Ken Foxe referenced six different schools contacted about their experience of pouches and all of them described it as very positive. This idea is coming from the schools.

It is not mandatory; it is not obligatory. It is Government listening to teachers and principals and providing them with another option. It is €20 per kid to help support their mental health if the school wants it.

I would never age a colleague, but I do not think there is that big a difference in our ages so I am not sure how I have been a Government Minister almost all the Deputy's adult life. Leaving that aside, she likes to portray this Government's record in a certain way. That is fine, it is her job and I look forward to debating that on the campaign trail. This is the Government that steered the country through Covid, steered the country through the biggest inflationary crisis, created jobs for people, has been able to…

I hope Deputy Cairns tells those people on the doors which of these splashing of the cash payments she would like to cancel. I invited her the last time to email me on this and she has not.

Please, you do not need to heckle. The Deputy could listen, and I listened-----

I listened to Deputy Cairns. I presume when she talks about splashing the cash, the Deputy is in favour of the double child benefit payment. I presume she would not begrudge someone the additional old age pension this month and again before Christmas. I presume she would not stop the fuel allowance payments or the lump sum payments for carers or people with a disability or the working family payment. When the Deputy talks about splashing the cash, I talk about giving people back a bit of their own money to help the…

I thank Deputy Canney for raising a number of matters. First, I agree with him on the need to continue to invest and deliver more projects around Galway city and county and to address the huge congestion issues. I would point, and my colleagues have reminded me, to some of the progress that has been made in recent times. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has made the point to me that the cross-city bus link has just got planning permission from An Bord Pleanála. When the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, was working in …

I definitely was not trying to give the Deputy a history lesson but what I was trying to politely push back against was the assertion that we are not investing in the transport infrastructure. I know those works I referenced in Oranmore and Ceannt are under way and I know the Deputy and others will welcome that. When it comes to Dexcom, the idea of its potential for a rail freight siding there could also assist the company and we are happy to engage constructively on that. The western rail corridor is an exciting p…

I thank Deputy Connolly. In the interests of time, I will take her comments on board with regard to the roads and their accuracy. It is important all of those processes are followed. As for University Hospital Galway, I welcome the fact that HIQA carries out inspection reports, publishes them and shines a light on areas on which we need to continue to try to make progress. HIQA holding our feet to the fire is a good thing, in terms of learning the lessons of the past with regard to health services in Ireland. The i…

First, as regards cancer care, there is an important issue to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge, on the record of the Dáil, that there are clinical specialist radiation therapists and radiation therapy posts in the hospital that are currently vacant. Approximately 25% of these posts are vacant. I want to be absolutely crystal clear; those posts are funded and there are two open recruitment campaigns for those posts. I hope and expect to see progress because I know how important that is. As for the options appraisa…