Do not shout at me; you had a good run.

I am doing my best. On top of that-----

I am not sure the Deputy wants to hear my answer.

You want to silence them.

I would not laugh about this topic.

I would not think the Deputy would find it funny. It is not a funny issue.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising this issue. It is very important and I am pleased that we are raising it in this House. Nobody in the House wants to see any child wait in pain. Any suggestion from the Deputy that she does not but that I am somehow or other satisfied with children being left in pain is obviously not a fair portrayal of me or of any public representative in this House. This is not an issue that divides political opinion. I assure her that, if she was in my role, she would be doing what I am …

The Deputy is suggesting-----

Yes, but-----

Excuse me-----

They are resolved.

The Ceann Comhairle will understand why I am finding it hard to take a moralistic lecture on child protection from the leader of the Opposition today of all days.

She might come back to us on that. I cannot ask her a question in this House but there is a function available to her and she should use it because she should apply the same standards to herself as she applies to everybody else.

I will answer the question. The Deputy is trying to do this thing. She stands up and talks about being slick and soundbites. She has obviously decided that I am now living rent-free in her head. That is fine.

The reality of the situation here, Deputy McDonald, is that I will work with this family, but I will not have her wrongly represent who I am, my values or the work I do. I will work every day to help every child who needs access.

We delivered a budget yesterday that will make substantial progress. I have already outlined to the Deputy that I will be meeting directly with the family advocacy groups next week. I do not need the Deputy as an intermediary.

I will be meeting them directly and I will be working with them, the Minister of Health and the clinician who carries out the surgeries, and is now the clinical lead, to do the best thing possible. We will put every support in place. I assure the Deputy of that.

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising this important issue around child protection and child abuse and making sure we have a zero-tolerance approach to this matter in all organisations, including in State agencies, political parties and everywhere else. I could not agree more with the Deputy. The issue of child protection is the most important one. Child abuse is something that sickens everybody to the very gut of their stomach. It absolutely does. I thank the Deputy for her constructive engagement and suggestions. I as…

I will ask that the Deputy's party's Bill is referred to the Attorney General as part of his consideration. That is a sensible thing to do. We will continue and I want the Deputy to know, as she probably does from her engagement with the Minister, Deputy Foley, that there is an intense degree of work going on in relation to this. We have seen in the past when we have got mechanisms correct that we have provided people with answers and a degree of healing. However, we have also seen that when we have got mechanisms …

He had no such conversation.