Ar dtús báire, ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor, mar níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas chun an brú atá curtha ar chosmhuintir na tíre de dheasca an t-ardú ar an gcostas maireachtála a ísliú. Tá an-chuid déanta againn chun é sin a dhéanamh. In passing, I also congratulate Katie Taylor on her outstanding win. She is one of our outstanding sportspersons and has done extraordinary work in terms of elevating the role of women in sport. She has brought great pride and distinction to the nation and to the sport of boxing. I do not agree with the Deputy's analysis in terms of the Government not helping, doing nothing or telling people that it does not recognise the fact that prices are at a relatively elevated level following the peaking of inflation. It must be remembered that inflation peaked at about 10% in the immediate aftermath of Covid-19. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it also peaked at close to 10%. What is interesting of course is that the Government did an awful lot. We did more than any other European government in terms of cushioning and trying to reduce the impact of cost-of-living increases on people. We continue to do that. In April, we decided to extend the VAT reduction of 9% on gas and electricity. This measure will save households €70 for gas and €55 for electricity. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, took a further decision in June regarding a 40% reduction in the renewable electricity public service obligation levy. From September onwards, there will be a significant increase in the number of people who qualify for the fuel allowance. Since 1 June, women can receive hormone replacement therapy free of charge. At the beginning of June, the carer's support grant increased to €2,000, which is the highest level ever. That benefits some 138,000 carers. Last week, the income level disregard increased for the carer's allowance, meaning more people will qualify for the allowance and more than 5,000 carers will receive an increase in their payments. The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be paid out over the summer months. That has been extended for the first time to foster carers. From September, the free schoolbooks scheme continues to be extended to all students in post-primary schools and from September all primary schools are eligible for the free hot school meals programme. A school meals holiday pilot project has started this summer. Free public transport for children aged five to eight will be introduced later this year. Far from the Deputy's assertions that the Government is doing nothing, we have taken all of these measures on top of the measures we took in budget 2025 and as part of the public service pay agreement. It is also worth noting that inflation in Ireland will come down to about 1.6% this year. The Deputy referenced our position within the European Union. We will have the third-lowest rate of inflation among the 27 EU member countries. Given the strength of the domestic economy that is quite a remarkable outcome vis-à-vis other European countries. Nominal wage growth is set to reach 5.5% this year. That will result in real incomes rising by between 3% and 3.5% per annum. That is important, because we are turning the tide in terms of this issue. That follows increases in real incomes in 2024. Further increases are forecast for 2026. The focus in the budget must be on dramatically transforming our infrastructure, which we committed to during the general election campaign. This must be an era when we transform our roads, public transport and our energy and water utilities. That is to help the Irish people in terms of growth and jobs into the future. There will have to be a predominant allocation of capital in respect of these key agenda items.
Sentiment score: 0.26
There will be supports in the budget to support people in dealing with the cost of living. Food inflation in Ireland in May was 4%. We are mid-table across the European Union. This is a Europe-wide phenomenon. It is a global phenomenon in terms of what is happening with the energy crisis. I love the way the Deputy tosses out an aside to the effect that infrastructure is on the Government-----
Sentiment score: 0.14
-----and that she does not have to account for it at all. We have spent record levels of investment in the past four years. We are going to go further again. The most important thing for the future of this economy is to ensure that we substantially increase and more than double the investment in the energy grid in order that we will have connections. That will allow us to deal with the growing population and economy. We have to ensure that there is huge investment in water, public transport and roads. That is what underpins the economy.
Sentiment score: 0.26
That will be a more effective allocation of spending-----
Sentiment score: 0.53
-----and prioritisation of the surpluses we will have at the end of this year and, hopefully, into the future.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I say that notwithstanding the difficult backdrop of the US potentially imposing high tariffs on the world.
Sentiment score: -0.44
That would put a lot of predictions out.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy for her presentation and I pay tribute to Grannies for Palestine in highlighting the genocide against children in Gaza, the slaughter of children indiscriminately by indiscriminate bombing and now the indiscriminate shooting at food checkpoints, which we have witnessed via those who have captured those images on social media. We often complain about the use of social media in other spheres, but it is worth bearing in mind that without social media in Gaza the world would be literally blind to the appalling atrocities that have occurred there. Many journalists have paid with their lives trying to bring out the horrible truth of what is happening, the latest iteration being an idea around what a former Israeli Prime Minister has described as a concentration camp. The Deputy has, to be fair to her, identified all the measures we have taken, and the occupied territories Bill will be a further measure we will take. It needs to be legislated for and debated fully in order that we are clear-eyed about it. It is largely symbolic, if we are honest, and, unfortunately, it seems, given everything that has happened to date, that Israel is oblivious to the views of people across Europe and oblivious to public opinion and international opinion and has sought consistently to denigrate and undermine multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, which is a very serious matter. I believe we should collectively call for the primacy of the United Nations in conflict zones, particularly in Gaza and indeed in the West Bank. There has been a consistent pattern of undermining UNRWA, OCHA and other UN agencies, without which life would be absolutely unbearable, and is unbearable now because, of course, they have been denied the opportunity to bring aid into Gaza. As regards the European Union, we had a fairly honest discussion at the European Council, at which the issue arose as to who has influence over Israel. The United States has very significant leverage and influence over Israel. I would have thought other European countries have; I am not so sure now. The EU has made entreaties to Israel, and we are told further aid will come in. I will believe it when I see it. It cannot be a negotiation on the basis of "give us a bit and give us a bit". There has to be a comprehensive framework for the facilitation of humanitarian aid going into Gaza. That is not there yet. We have to engage with Europe and the US in order to keep that pressure on the need for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages but above all now-----
Sentiment score: 0.04
-----on a massive surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Can I say very resolutely there has been no delay in the evacuation of children who require hospital treatment or medical treatment?
Sentiment score: -0.54
Absolutely no delay, and I think it is important that we get truth on that. I am happy for the Deputy to meet the Minister for Health and the Minister for justice who will apprise her of the details of this.
Sentiment score: 0.28
In fact, relative to other European countries, Ireland is well up. We are placed fifth overall in terms of the number of patients who have been evacuated to European countries, after Italy, Romania, Spain and Norway. We will do everything we possibly can. There is a further 18 to come, bringing us to 30. The issues are logistical. We are working with the WHO through the Egypt crossing.
Sentiment score: 0.06
Sorry, Deputy. This is Deputy Bacik’s moment. We will work but it has to be with the WHO. It simply has to be in terms of protocols, looking after the children and making sure everything is done properly. Today, we have formalised what is already happening; more family members can come in with the children because there can be issues.
Sentiment score: 0.05
There will be total family unification, and there has been in respect of that, and there will be for the next 18, but there is no delay on our side in terms of those 18. There are others-----
Sentiment score: -0.29
On the GAA, I am perplexed by this. No appeal has gone in. There was no pre-engagement with anyone here on the Government side. I am not clear if there even was with the Gaelic Athletic Association formally. There is a bit of a-----
Sentiment score: -0.24
I will say no more other than I am not comfortable with how this has been handled overall.
Sentiment score: -0.60
Not on our side but on the side of those organising it. We have to be fully conscious of our obligations to child welfare and child well-being in how we handle all of this.
Sentiment score: 0.00
First of all, Deputy, we have had the biggest expansion of access to free GP care in the history of the State, which the Deputy did not reference in his presentation on primary care services. It is the biggest expansion of access to free GP care in the history the State. Some 2.3 million people are now eligible in this country for free GP care. I would ask the Deputy to forward me the details of the individual cases he instanced. The Deputy mentioned a recruitment embargo. There has been no recruitment embargo. We do need to get a bit real here. We have had close to 30,000 extra people in our health service in the last five years and the Deputy talks about an embargo. Six thousand more will be employed in 2025 and thousands more will be employed next year. These will be additional. Maybe a more pertinent question to ask is whether we are getting the outputs for the significant investment that has gone into health over the last five years.
Sentiment score: 0.21
That is a separate question,-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----but the Deputy never asks it because he does not want to fall out with anybody, which is understandable coming from the Opposition. There are issues in terms of how we deal with therapists. We have set up a new in-school therapy service for children in special schools that will start in September. We have already allocated money for that additional to the Estimate that was provided. That will be significant. Recruitment is increasing significantly for the CDNT teams in terms of recruitment of therapists and filling more posts but we want to increase upon that in 2025 and 2026. We are dramatically ramping up places, and have been for quite some time, in our colleges to produce more therapists to come out on an annual basis. We do need to look at how we deploy therapists. That is why we have said here in the House that we want to bring in legislation to prioritise access to therapies and amend the existing situation pertaining to assessment of need because that is not serving children well. We have acknowledged that. There are issues with delays in terms of accessing vital services but we are prepared to do something about it. I would appreciate the Deputy's support in respect of that legislation when it comes before the House because it will prioritise access to services and access to therapies as opposed to waiting to get the assessment of need first and then accessing therapies. The existing legislative template has not worked in practice and, in my view, legal decisions subsequently have obliged us to act to deal with that difficult issue. The nettle has to be grasped on that to bring about an improvement in terms of how we best use our therapists in this country, because we have increased the number of therapists in employment by a lot more compared to five, six, seven or eight years ago.
Sentiment score: 0.20
We will continue the work to recruit. We have been recruiting. There has been an increase of €6.71 billion in expenditure in health. This is a 35% increase in health spending since 2020, so do not say we are cutting back or are not allocating. The Deputy cannot say that with credibility.
Sentiment score: 0.10
We have allocated, which is a fundamental point. By the way, we have made huge impacts across a lot of areas in health in the last five years, to such an extent - though this would be over a longer period - that our mortality rate fell by 11% over the decade from 2014 to 2024. We now have the second lowest mortality rate among the European 27, so the investment is having impacts of a positive nature.
Sentiment score: 0.19
Are there significant issues? Yes, especially with access to some primary care services, mental health services and, above all, therapies, but we are allocating. There have been issues in the HSE with recruitment and retention in some areas and those are being worked on.
Sentiment score: 0.22
Apart from the last sentence, I found that a fairly bizarre presentation. Deputy Tóibín is blaming the European Union. Europe did not impose any tariffs.
Sentiment score: -0.17
I am not missing it at all. His entire three minutes was about how the European Union is doing this, the European Union is doing that, the French have-----
Sentiment score: 0.11
-----have more influence than the Irish. It is absolute nonsense, if you do not mind me saying so. It is the US that has imposed the tariffs, not Europe. We do not want tariffs. Europe does not want tariffs. They are bad for the economy, people, patients, industry and businesses.
Sentiment score: -0.19
They are just bad news and they will damage the world economy if this continues. There is terrible uncertainty and volatility, and the result of all that is a pause on investment decisions, which is also a critical outcome so far of what has transpired over the last six months. To be fair, I disagree further with the Deputy. The Irish position, until now, has been to avoid any escalatory response by Europe. I have spoken to the President of the Commission. She is of the same view, as is the negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, to whom the Tánaiste has spoken, as have I. The whole strategy of the European Commission and the vast majority of the European Council has been to avoid an overreactive response, notwithstanding there are fairly severe tariffs on the motor industry, as a result of which a lot of EU countries are bleeding right now. It is easy for the Deputy to pontificate that we should do this, that and the other. If he was a worker in the car industry in Germany or Czechia, he would be feeling it. The UK was feeling it, which is why it made what is called a framework agreement with the US. The latest iteration of this process is the announcement of a potential 30% tariff - not 10% but 30% - by 1 August. If that materialises, the EU, at that stage, will have no option but to respond. There is no point in getting worried about an individual component here or sector there. If there are tariffs of 30%, that will be ruinous or very destructive of our economy and of America's economy as well. We hope that does not come to pass. Europe wants to prioritise negotiation. There is no evidence, by the way, in terms of what the Deputy said that France and others have got their way. They have not actually in the sense that some would have liked a more robust response already but Europe has played it calm and firm, been involved in negotiations and had good reason to believe there was a deal, an outline framework agreement in principle, on the table up to a couple of days before the weekend. That all changed. There is a new reality to 1 August. Europe hopes we can get into a negotiation process to resolve the matter.
Sentiment score: -0.05
The Deputy described me as the king of deflection. As a true republican, I never did royalty and do not propose to do so now. In this matter, we have not failed in any respect. Europe has avoided retaliation, notwithstanding a fair degree of provocation by way of the imposition of tariffs. There has been an effective 10% tariff for the past number of months. Europe has avoided overreacting to this and has gone down the route of a negotiated settlement and solution with the United States Government. The US has issues, which we acknowledge. They can be resolved via renegotiation. That is what we want to do. I do not believe in tariffs.
Sentiment score: 0.23
We acknowledge fully the exposure of this country to damage from any tariff imposition because we are a small, open economy. I am glad the Deputy has embraced that. There were times when he did not. We have no issue with being a bridge with the US.
Sentiment score: -0.08
Taking the pharmaceutical sector, for example, Ireland is not isolated in that.
Sentiment score: 0.24
Up to ten EU countries have joined together in respect of the pharmaceutical sector.
Sentiment score: 0.48