In the spirit of Deputy Doherty having raised an important issue on a point of order, I will respond to what he has said and will then take time to respond to his additional question. I agree with him that what is happening with regard to the flotilla is a very serious matter. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are currently in New York, concluding their work at the United Nations annual assembly. They have raised that matter within the European Union and with other Heads of Government. I have been informed that the Tánaiste has raised this specific matter with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President Kallas, given the urgency of what is now taking place. We are well aware of the safety risk that is posed to all in the flotilla. I understand there are a number of Oireachtas Members involved in this as well. They deserve the protection of international law and they deserve safety. I have not seen the wording of the motion, or maybe Deputy Doherty is still developing it at the moment. Therefore, I am not in a position to be able to give a commitment to him now. However, I am in a position to assure the Deputy that when he makes the point that this is a serious issue, we agree, and the Government is treating it as such. All deserve the respect of international law. There are citizens from many countries, including some public representatives, who are trying to play their part in offering direct support to the people of Gaza. That deserves to be recognised in the protection that they get. I am sure Deputy Doherty will engage with the Ceann Comhairle on the motion and I know the Government will too. In relation to the substantive issue that Deputy Doherty raised on the cost of living, let me open by acknowledging the challenge that it is for many, and I absolutely accept that. For households and businesses, we have seen changes happen over the last number of years with the cost of living. We are seeing indications that the rate of price increases has considerably slowed down. However, that is not across our entire economy and we see some parts of the economy where the rate of price increase continues to be considerable. I also know that the point that the rate of price increase is slowing down can be of cold comfort to those who have seen prices go up by so much over the last number of years. I know Deputy Doherty has already dismissed what I am about to do as reading out a list, but it is important to emphasise the degree of support that is already available. These measures were brought forward in anticipation of the cost of living continuing to be a challenge across this year. It is these kinds of measures that the Government will aim to build upon when the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I present budget 2026 on Tuesday week. If we look at the measures that are being implemented across this year alone, we see the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, a measure that has given needed support to 221,000 children. Very recently, we saw the free schoolbook initiative being rolled out to every child in primary and secondary school. We see all the efforts that are made every year to reduce school transport fees. We see the progress that has been made in recent years with the availability of free GP care, which is now available for all children up to and including the age of eight. We have seen the work that has happened with the reduction in the electricity PSO levy. We have seen the significant expansion of the fuel allowance and carer's allowance. In June this year, 138,000 carers benefited, deservedly, from the carer's support grant. This is in addition to other measures that have been built on year by year like free public transport for children and the work that has happened in relation to childcare costs. The public sector pay deal which was implemented again on 1 August mirrors the wage growth that we are seeing across our economy and is playing a role in assisting with the cost of living at a time when prices are going up. On the particular issue that Deputy Doherty raised in relation to the cost of energy, the Government is very much aware of that. Much, though not all of it, is driven by where we are located and by the mix of energy that is used within our economy and country. We are aware of the impact this is having on our society and our competitiveness. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is completing work in this area looking at the structural changes that we may be able to introduce over time that can play a role. In the answer that I have offered to the House today I have outlined the measures that are currently being implemented and rolled out that aim to make a difference for those for whom the cost of living is such a challenge. This is what is happening. What myself and my colleagues in government are working on now is determining the further measures we can bring forward that will be affordable and sustainable and will make a difference. A previous Sinn Féin policy in relation to this was the introduction of an energy price cap. Deputy Doherty might use this as an opportunity to explain whether that is still Sinn Féin policy.

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I gave Deputy Doherty the opportunity to confirm or at least explain to the House whether Sinn Féin is still making the case for an energy price cap, which it did in the last Dáil. I notice that he did not answer that question.

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Indeed. In relation to the matters that Deputy Doherty has just raised, we are well aware of the challenge that the cost of living is posing for so many. I would make the point that for every budget I have brought into this House, he has always criticised me for not spending enough. He has always criticised us for running budget surpluses. If we had taken his approach in recent years, we would not have had the ability to intervene and help as we did in the last two years, let alone the ability to help again. The Government, for example, will be able to make a decision in relation to the VAT on gas and electricity which will play a role in maintaining the support that is available. That is a decision that will be considered in the context of the budget. We know that it is demanding for so many at the moment and what we want to do is bring forward measures that are targeted and that we are confident we can sustain in the time ahead.

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I thank Deputy Nash for raising this matter. When I was preparing for Leaders' Questions here today, part of me thought it was unlikely that I would get a question about the Government spending too much money. I am really glad that the Deputy has raised this because it gives me an opportunity to respond on what are very important issues. First, on the sustainability of our public finances and where we are, there is nobody more aware than me - although I suspect that Deputy Nash is nearly as alive to it as me - of what the risks of the past were and of the dangers of them playing out again. It is a matter of which I am aware every single day in the context of the individual decisions that I make and their accumulation. In response to the charges made regarding the level of risk that is present in our public spending plans at the moment, first I would emphasise the point regarding the scale of the budget surplus we are now running. Second, I would point out that by the end of this year, €16 billion will be set aside in the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. That figure will rise to €22 billion by next year. That is the aim of the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I with regard to deposits in those funds. Third, Deputy Nash should note that when I began my work as Minister for public expenditure, debt as a share of national income was in excess of 120%. Today, it is just slightly above 60%. It has halved. That is the work that I have done. I have devoted much of my life over the last decade to the case for running budget surpluses with, I have to say, not a whole lot of support in this House for doing so. I have done that in anticipation of those risks. I rarely take out my mobile phone in the Dáil. I always try to leave it aside out of respect for the proceedings we have here. However, I went onto the Labour Party website as the Deputy was making his points. Today on the website, Labour is calling for more spending with regard to equal early years programmes, public transport, housing and public sector pay. That is what the Labour Party is calling for at the moment. I accept the legitimacy of many of the cases the Deputy makes, but those who advocate care in relation to general public spending are always very eager to make the case for specific public spending proposals, sometimes of great value. While I do not believe he makes that mistake, Deputy Nash is surrounded by many who do. The Government will bring forward a budget that will post another large surplus. Shortly after that, we will outline the plans we have to look at what we will do in the years ahead to moderate, in particular, current public spending and to get it to a more sustainable level of increases. I have no doubt that when we do that, it will be vigorously opposed by many.

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Deputy Nash knows I have the height of respect for him and the points he raises. He is correct in saying that the Labour Party is a rare exception on the Opposition benches in being willing to support, at times, sensible policies to broaden the tax base. He asked me my views on broadening the tax base. I will talk about what we have already done and what we are yet to do. There are: the changes with regard to PRSI to ensure that our pension plans will be better funded in the future; the changes we have made to carbon taxation, which, in fairness to the Labour Party, it has supported, to find better ways of funding the spending we need to make with regard to climate change; and the changes we have made in revaluing and extending the tax base with regard to local property tax, which, again, in fairness to it, the Labour Party has supported. On the Deputy's point on narrowing the tax base, I am keenly aware of that, which is why the tax package we bring forward for budget 2026 cannot and should not exceed €1.5 billion. That €1.5 billion is approximate to the income that will be generated through our tax code by our economy growing. It is my strong view that those is the parameter within which tax changes should be made. I really welcome the opportunity for a debate on these matters, including the broad economic policy of our country, but the budget surpluses we are running, where they are going at the moment, is a very strong response from this Government to ensure resilience and safety in our public finances.

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I thank the Deputy for raising, as Deputy Doherty did, a really important issue regarding the protection of citizens on international seas and the rule of law with regard to them. The Government, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are keenly aware of this. What are we doing with regard to it? We are taking diplomatic action. We are raising this matter with other governments within the European Union and at the international gatherings happening in New York. I reiterate that the protection of international law must be afforded to those who are at sea at the moment and those who are on the flotilla. Regardless of the conditions they are in, they deserve the protection offered by international law. That is absolutely crucial. I do not have the first-hand experience Deputy Murphy has of the flotilla and seeing it prepare, but I have no doubt at all that those who are involved in it are motivated by a desire to send a signal regarding their human response to what is happening in Gaza and to play whatever role they can in offering practical support to the people confronting such terrible conditions. As to what we have done, it is at a number of different levels. First, the Tánaiste, as I said earlier, has raised this issue with Vice President Kaja Kallas, who is the high representative of the European Union with regard to foreign policy, to make the case for the European Union having a collective response to this. He also raised it at the meeting in the past number of days regarding the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in the context of the effort countries are still making for a two-state solution in the Middle East. The Department of foreign affairs, at a practical level, is doing all it can to provide consular assistance to our citizens who find themselves in such a difficult situation. I am informed that our officials are in direct contact with a designated person in the Global Movement to Gaza delegation, which I understand is the organising group behind this flotilla. We will continue to maintain that contact and to raise this issue at the highest level we can, both diplomatically and politically.

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For a country with our long-standing tradition in the context of respect for human rights and our neutrality, diplomacy is the way conduct our affairs. It is also the way we seek to influence the world and protect the rights of our citizens. Words are not powerless. Words are not an absence of action. Words are do not represent a lack of effort. Words and diplomacy are the way we seek to make our case with the respect we have for international law and with our long-established values. Words are our means of action and our tool of influence. I reject and refute the case the Deputy makes that communication and contact are not the same as action or something that can yield a result. Through the diplomatic action we have taken, we have tried to play a role in influencing and building up a coalition of countries that have recently taken larger action with regard to the State of Palestine. In relation to the proposal the Deputy put to me, I will raise it with the Department of foreign affairs to see if there is a role for an observer. Taking his concern at face value, which, of course, I do in light of the importance of this issue, I cannot immediately commit that an official can do this, but I certainly commit to following up on it. We are at one in wanting to ensure that any citizen involved in such a peaceful act gets the protection of international law.

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I thank the Deputy Collins for raising this important matter. Before I respond to the important and specific questions he raised in respect of the school transport scheme, it is important to put the matter in the context. In that regard, this is the scheme that, in 2024, the taxpayer funded at a cost of €512 million. In 2019, the cost was €219 million. The cost of this scheme has doubled in a short number of years, which, in terms of the rate of public expenditure growth, is way ahead of spending on many other policy initiatives across our State at the moment. The Deputy made reference to children who were not able to access the scheme, which I will discuss in a moment. I acknowledge the number of children who are accessing the scheme. Last year, 178,000 children and families accessed the scheme. That was a 3% increase on previous years. I am not making the case that there are not issues. The Deputy raised two of them. However, I want to acknowledge that this is a big programme that offers support to over 170,000 families and children, which is why it is always a policy area of such interest to the House. On the matters the Deputy raised, on whether drivers over 70 should be allowed to drive school buses, my understanding is that this relates to a retirement age put in place by Bus Éireann. The policy perspective is to have the retirement ages aligned between Bus Éireann and those involved in providing that service. The Road Safety Authority is preparing a report for the Department of Transport with regard to the appropriateness of that age limit for the service. I hear many different demands in respect of the expansion of the scheme. Some of the challenges in doing that are directly related to the fact the overall cost of the scheme has doubled in a few short years. I am certainly aware, as are the Ministers for education and public expenditure, of the need to ensure that as we make the scheme more broadly available, which I have no doubt will happen, it happens in a way that is economically sustainable such that we are able to fund the expansion of the service in the years ahead. I imagine that is playing in a role in relation to bringing more operators into the scheme.

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When we speak of children who are left on the side of the road, acknowledging there are issues we need to address, I emphasise to the Dáil that nearly 180,000 families and their children get support and the service they need through this scheme. This is at an overall cost to the taxpayer of more than €0.5 billion in recognition of the issues raised by Deputy Collins today and raised often by Deputies on this side of the House. Regarding his particular point on age, I assure him that assessment is being carried out by the appropriate body, which is the Road Safety Authority. It is entirely correct that the issue be assessed from a safety perspective, which the authority is doing. One way or another, the matter will come to a conclusion. I will make sure the Ministers for Transport and education are aware this issue has been raised. It has been going on for some time. The Road Safety Authority is the right body to make a final conclusion and we will be informed by its recommendation on the matter.

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