Next is an Independent Group slot. Deputy Harkin is sharing with Deputy Pringle.

I thank the Deputy.

That concludes the statements. We now have 20 minutes of question time. We will take it in the usual order. I ask everybody who wishes to ask a question to be concise and respectful so that everybody gets in. There is no set time. Bearing that in mind, and that there are five groups here, if everybody wishes to ask a question I will have to take all the parties first and come back for seconds if need be. I ask Deputy Brady to be concise.

Deputy Brady can come back in if he gives everyone else a chance. I call Deputy Howlin.

I ask the Minister of State to be concise.

We will leave it at the question.

A direct question was asked.

The Minister of State should direct the answer to the Deputy.

In the interest of fairness, I now go back to Deputy Brady. I assure Deputy Harkin she will get a chance to speak presently.

Does the Deputy have a question?

I call on the Minister of State to give his closing statement.

Last week, a man from Wexford in his 80th year, Seán Hayes, pulled his own teeth having contacted seven dentists in Wexford as well as the primary care centre at Grogan's Road, all of whom told him they could do nothing for him. He said on local radio that he blames the Government and not the dentists. I am asking the Minister for Health what provisions his Department is making to provide emergency dental cover for adult medical card holders unable to access dental services due to the current oral healthcare crisis…

"Substantially higher" would be somewhat of an exaggeration. The question I asked the Minister was what he is doing about access to emergency services. This is an 80-year-old man whose wife died a couple of years ago and who also lost his son. It is in no way reflective of the €21 billion we put into health in order to have a First World health service. As Mr. Hayes said, it is a Third World health service. Somebody of 80 years of age who worked and paid tax all his life having to pull four of his own teeth certain…

Before the Minister is finished waffling, let me tell him the response from the HSE to a recent parliamentary question in relation to emergency services. It stated that the HSE is not resourced to provide treatment to adults and does not have the capacity to do so. That was in response to Parliamentary Question No. 767 received on 31 May, a month ago. Clearly, what the Minister has just told me about the HSE is a load of rubbish and he does not have a clue. A man who paid tax his whole life pulling four of his own …

Let me tell the Minister what the Irish Dental Association said-----

Seán Hayes believes that too.

No, I did not. Seán Hayes did that on the radio.

Good man.

Take your time.

A key driver of inflation is the cost of fuel. It feeds into absolutely everything. It is true to say that the issue is EU-wide and that the war in Ukraine has contributed to the problem, but we have our own fiscal tools that we can deploy here to bring inflation under control. The truth is that every country is dealing with the war. However, not every country is like Ireland. We are unique, we are an island and we have almost full employment. Yet, we have not taken one measure to deal with costs. The economist Dav…