I make the point that the budget, by any objective standard, was a progressive budget. It was a progressive budget that helped those with the least the most. That is how progressive budgeting works. It is there in the ESRI SWITCH model and the likes as well.

I have outlined very clearly what the Government is doing to help those most in need. I appreciate the fact the Social Democrats have brought forward a proposal around targeted energy supports. One crowd here wants a universal support, another does not want any supports and the Social Democrats wants targeted supports. If this is a united left, I would not like to see them divided.

I answered it at great length from the Deputy's coalition colleagues.

I appreciate the Deputy's strong mandate to represent people in this House on this issue. I respect the fact he engages with us on this regularly. I will point out that the figures we cite are not just headlines. They are a genuine commitment to provide from the Exchequer an extraordinary, quite rightly, sum of money to try to assist people with this issue. I accept there are challenges that we are all trying to work our way through constructively, including Government Deputies, such as the Minister of State, Deput…

Yes, we will. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Religious freedom matters. It matters in our own country too. Sometimes, there is an effort in what is sometimes called the progressive agenda to try to exclude the conversation on this, including parents who want to send their child to a school of a religious ethos of their choice, which is that parent's choice. I welcome the publication of the report today. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, probably as we speak, is raising at the issue of Sudan at the Foreign A…

I never quite thought there would be a day when Paschal would ask me to spend more money but it did come on his final day. I really want to thank you, Paschal - Deputy Donohoe - for this question. It is fitting on your last day in Dáil Éireann that you are talking to us about borrowing, but now about borrowing books instead of borrowing money. When I walked into what was your former library yesterday, I thought I had taken a wrong turn and walked into a library, such was the collection of books you have built up th…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. While I do not believe I have had the pleasure of meeting with the Coventry centre, I have had the pleasure to meet with many centres working in the UK. I share his view that they are doing incredible work. I visited one in Camden Town in London relatively recently and I am aware of the work it is doing with survivors of residential abuse and mother and baby homes. It is incredible work. I will ask, in the context of drawing up the new strategy, our embassy in London to se…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I take from his contribution the depth of feeling there obviously is in his community in relation to this and all of the sports clubs, autism families and others that he highlighted. In light of his raising it I will ask the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, to take a specific look and to come back to him with an informed view on this. The Government has taken a number of measures to prevent land hoarding, as the Deputy called i…

I could not agree with the Deputy more. I have been with her in Balbriggan. It is a great town but I know how fast growing it is and how important this appointment is. Indeed, she has chatted to me about it in recent days as well. I have made inquiries. I am informed that, as we will recall, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 changed how the Garda fills its vacancies at senior ranks. It now runs the competitions for the vacancies. This was a major legislative reform and necessitated a temporary pa…

It is very fitting the Deputy should raise this because while we have been in the Chamber the play-off draws for the World Cup have taken place. I believe we will face the Czech Republic - that is the "check" I have been thinking about most in the Department of Finance today - with a possible home final against Denmark or North Macedonia. That is just the latest soccer information. The Deputy is right, and that is the backdrop against which he asks his question. While we all cheer on our national team and we are al…

That is exactly the point I am making. I will make immediate inquiries with the Minister for sport, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, about the Oscar Traynor Centre and will ask him to talk to the Deputy directly.

I thank the Deputy. Both he and Paschal would be disappointed if he did not point out their significant political differences while doing so in such a courteous way. I am going on my memory here but I believe we did increase the income thresholds for social housing in the previous Government. I acknowledge that we probably need to do more on this over the lifetime of this Government. I see it in my constituency where incomes have risen, thankfully, but, as a result, sometimes people can miss out on eligibility and,…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue in the House, as he has done on many occasions. I will not, for understandable reasons, comment on matters that are the subject of a commercial dispute before the courts. I understand that the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, has agreed to meet with the Deputy next week to discuss the broader matter he raises on behalf of the people of Dundrum. When I have been in his constituency I have met many local kind, decent people who want to have a conversation about this …

In my new role I must be even more disciplined in commenting on various tax changes and the likes. I have been watching Paschal do this for a few years. I am committed to the programme for Government, of course, as is the Government. The sequencing and advancement of various initiatives in the programme will be a matter for individual budgets. The Deputy is entirely right: this was put into the programme for Government because of his view and the view of others on the importance of helping keep our population fit a…

I am glad the Deputy reminded me of that Bill because we should try to make progress on it. I will seek an update on that. On the library issue, we have a public library strategy 2023 to 2027. We are genuinely committed to continuing to invest in our libraries. The evolution of our libraries has been a source of collective national pride at a time when other countries are reducing their investment in and funding of their libraries. Some are even closing down libraries. It might be useful for me to arrange for the D…

When the Deputy asked Paschal to follow Leo's lead, I thought she was going to ask him to write a book.

I think it would be a very interesting one, but that is for another day. The Deputy raised a very serious matter about the wait times for psychology services in County Mayo. She also highlighted the very serious issue of death by suicide in her county. I will ask both the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who has responsibility for mental health, to come back to the Deputy directly specifically on child psychology provision in County Mayo.

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising it. I have been around long enough to know that disputes are generally resolved by engagement and consultation so I would encourage everybody to engage intensively with Dublin Fire Brigade, which does an incredible public service, and indeed with the ambulance service. I know that from quite a while back, in my memory, these issues with ambulance and fire brigade provision in the city of Dublin have caused points of friction at times in industrial relations. I really urge the State…

The Dáil meets today at a time of change within the Government, but equally at a moment of continued cohesion. This is made possible because we live in a country with a stable Government that has a collective commitment to a programme for Government and a clear mission to build and secure a prosperous future for the people of Ireland. My friend and colleague, Paschal Donohoe, has served with unparallelled distinction for over 18 years as an Oireachtas Member and over 14 years as a member of Dáil Éireann. He has pre…

No chance of that.