I move: THAT Section 125A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) be amended to provide for the specified rate of stamp duty in respect of an insured person in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1 January 2022 and on or before 31 March 2022 and on or after 1 April 2022 in the manner and to the extent specified in the Act giving effect to this Resolution.

With the permission of the Chair, I might address the points that were off the amendment.

It is difficult to address some of them as it is a very-----

I am happy to do whatever the committee wants and I will be guided by the Chair entirely.

Okay. A variety of issues have been raised by colleagues. When the Chair deems it the appropriate time, I will address all of those. I have been instructed just to address the amendment and I will come back to the other issues whenever it is appropriate. Specifically on the amendment, it seeks to insert a definition of “relevant statutory instrument”. All statutory instruments regarding the Acts referred to in the amendment are made under the Health Act 1947 and, therefore, the amendment as it stands does not make …

We have probably covered many of the issues between this contribution and the last. I will, with the Ceann Comhairle's permission, address the various points that have been raised. I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I will address Deputy McNamara's points. He stated that the amendments we are discussing right now give the Oireachtas the power to scrutinise the regulations. I fundamentally disagree with that statement. The Oireachtas already has that power. These amendments to the Bill do not give the Oir…

It is very important that we understand that-----

It is very important that we understand that the Oireachtas absolutely has the power to annul any regulation laid before it.

Deputy McNamara has taken to shouting regularly during people's contributions. I have sat in the Chamber for hours listening very carefully. I am trying to address all the points the Deputy raised. Will he afford me the respect of allowing me to answer his questions?

The Deputy has stood in the Chamber month after month and demanded-----

Deputy McNamara has repeatedly demanded that I, on behalf of the Government, be accountable to this House. He is right to demand that, but in order to hold me to account he has to let me finish and answer him. I am trying to answer him. The point I am making is that either House of the Oireachtas already has the power to annul any regulation it wants at any time it wants, but these amendments go much further. They do not just make these Houses the legislative body, which they are, they also make them the regulator.…

The Deputy asked for an impact report before we come back on mandatory hotel quarantine and I committed to doing that and discussing it at whatever length the Dáil and Seanad wanted. There was a serious and substantive request for a change to a Bill in July, which was to add one sunset clause. It was a request from Deputies Shortall and Cullinane and others in this House. It was a matter of substance such that I had to go back to Government and get an updated Government decision on it and then we came back. That is…

That is my next point. When the Deputy suggests that I or others are not listening to the science, she knows that it is simply not true. It is a good sound bite, but the Deputy, I and everyone in here knows the Government's response has been public health led. The Deputy suggests I will not listen to anyone other than NPHET and then gives the example of antigen testing. I set up an expert group, led by the chief scientific officer, to give me advice other than that of NPHET. I took that advice and then I set up an …

I will just finish this sentence and then I will come back to the Deputy.

The Deputy knows it is not true to suggest I will not listen to anyone other than NPHET on antigen testing. I recognise the Deputy has been advocating for ventilation consistently for a long period of time. It has been looked at several times. There was the group that reported into NPHET, as the Deputy knows. NPHET did not endorse its view, but noted it. We have this group in the HSE called antimicrobial resistance and infection control, AMRIC, which was originally set up for antimicrobial resistance, but is provid…

It is true. He has accused me and here he goes. He cannot listen to it.

No, it is not a point of order.

The Deputy is a great man for giving insults-----

He has accused me and Government of being Nazis. He said in this House last week that we should be brought to the Hague for war crimes. He is a great man for throwing out horrendous insults, but he cannot take it. He cannot listen to the response.

There he goes again. He is not able to listen to the response.