Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Níl an ceart aici. Tá níos mó déanta ag an Rialtas seo i dtaobh costas maireachtála agus an brú a ísliú agus a laghdú do chosmhuintir na hÉireann ná aon rialtas eile ar fud na hEorpa. Tá sé sin soiléir ón méid tacaíochta a thugamar sa cháinaisnéis a bhí againn an Deireadh Fómhair seo caite. Is léir sin. I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy's presentation. No Government across the 27 member states of the EU has provided as much as this Government and the previous one did in terms of cost-of-living supports. Quite exceptional once-off contributions were made, quite apart from the other significant provision we made within the mainstream elements of the budget. Over €7.3 billion was made available in temporary expenditure and €9.9 billion was made available in recurring expenditure in supporting household incomes. We have been very conscious of the fact that at its peak, inflation reached a multi-decade high of close to 10% in Ireland. That was the position. This inflationary shock did have a significant impact on households, people and SMEs, so significant fiscal support was provided by the Government in specific cost-of-living measures that were temporary but also in taxation reductions in the past budget that will take effect this year, as well as other measures like the free school books scheme, public transport supports and hot school meals, all of which have been of significant assistance. Budget 2025 provided for a further €2.2 billion cost-of-living package and included an increased payment in respect of the rent tax credit for 2024 from €1,000 to €2,000, the extension of the 9% reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity, the extension of mortgage interest relief until the end of 2025, a double month child benefit payment, two €125 electricity credits for households, two double week payments for all long-term social welfare recipients and €167 million for the increased cost of business schemes. The taxation measures in the budget will reduce income tax paid and the universal social charge. Consumer price inflation has eased significantly from where it was over the past two years. Annual average inflation of 1.3% was recorded in 2024. This compares with 5.2% in 2023 and 8.1% in 2022. The latest data shows inflation was 2% in April. This is the target rate of inflation used by the European Central Bank. Notwithstanding the easing of the rate of inflation, the price level remains elevated and we are very conscious of that. Our agenda and objective in the budget when it comes in the autumn will be to provide within the social protection payment programme and do what we can on taxation to alleviate the pressures on people. We had an exceptional period in 2022 and 2023 and during Covid. The response has been exceptional by any yardstick. Sustainability matters in terms of public finances but it also matters in terms of longer term sustainable programmes in social protection, the tax code and the provision of public expenditure.
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I know the Deputy dismisses people on social welfare. She has just done so.
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To be fair to her party, it moves along the spectrum from time to time in terms of the political narrative. The point, of course, is that what I did say was that provision has been made across the board in terms of taxation measures, the social protection code-----
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-----and milestone and significant breakthrough initiatives. Every child going to school in this country now has free books.
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If the Deputy had said that to me three or four years ago, she would not have believed we would do it but we did. We have also significantly expanded the hot school meal programme. These are universal, long-lasting programmes that are now embedded in the public expenditure programme. I recall the Deputy in high dudgeon when we were doing the cost-of-living packages, saying they were once-off measures, were not good enough, etc. On the public expenditure side of the next budget, we will do everything we can to ensure we can reduce pressures on families and, in particular, children.
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Just because the Deputy says something does not mean it is true. What I said to her on the most recent occasion she raised this issue, when she said she had read the programme for Government, was that the whole agenda was to create a narrative and presentation that this new Government, which is just a few months old, is somehow-----
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Will the Deputy allow me to answer the question without the heckling and interrupting?
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I know Sinn Féin's bona fides in climate change is exemplary. The presentation of the narrative by Deputy Bacik is to characterise the Government as being somehow not in favour of measures to address climate change. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bottom line in terms of the climate action plan and the agenda ahead of us is that we are fundamentally committed to renewables and investment in them. The Deputy mentioned a private application and litigation relating to it. That is not a Government initiative but a private sector initiative. People are entitled to take initiatives. The Government has announced an initiative on energy security. I say respectfully that it would be irresponsible of the Government not to act on the advice we have received in respect of the energy vulnerability of the country. We need sufficiency in renewables and the capacity to withstand any interruptions to our energy supply. This is a serious issue. I would not play it down or understate the energy security dimension to the decision taken by the Minister and the advice he received in respect of it. On another day, if things went wrong, there would be loud choruses in this House asking why decisions on energy security were not taken. On renewables, everything we can do to accelerate offshore wind energy will be done. Previous Governments involving Fianna Fáil and other parties led the revolution on onshore wind in this country. We have a good record in respect of onshore wind and the integration of renewables with the electricity grid. It is a good story for Ireland at European level and elsewhere. The challenge now is to do it for offshore wind. We will do everything we can to accelerate renewables and endeavour to get offshore wind farms built as quickly as possible. The Government has already had a series of meetings about substantial investment in the electricity grid, which will be required. It will be of a significantly higher scale than what we invested over the previous five years under price review 5. Price review 6 will come close to doubling what was spent on the grid in the past five years. On biodiversity, we have radically transformed the situation for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Its budget has been doubled over the past four years. There has been a substantial increase in the numbers of staff. The Government is going to continue with that agenda.
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The Deputy knows that the emissions inventory report of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, from July 2024 shows a decrease of 6.8% in Ireland's greenhouse gas in 2023 compared with 2022, which itself saw a 1.9% reduction on the previous year. This is the lowest that our greenhouse gas emissions have been in three decades below the 1990 baseline. That is significant given that in that period, we have had a population increase of 1.5 million, over 1 million new homes and more than 1 million extra vehicles on our roads. The performance by Ireland in respect of this issue has been quite strong. The previous Government made significant investments and decisions that are already bearing fruit and will continue to do so into the future. The energy security initiative will apply to State-led energy. The Deputy knows that. She is, I think deliberately, conflating that with a private sector initiative. I invite the Deputy to talk to the officials in the climate Department in respect of energy security. We can arrange that briefing for the Deputy.
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Children's Health Ireland, CHI, commissioned the audit. This is a very serious issue. It is of very serious concern to both the parents of children and to children who might now be teenagers. The audit is in respect of the period 2021 to 2023 and relates to developmental dysplasia. The decision by CHI to commission an audit was made in order to have an independent look at it and make sure that if there was untoward behaviour or something wrong happened, it would be highlighted and the facts found. It is a mission to find the facts. Government has no objective in hiding anything. The Deputy uses language which, I understand, from an Opposition perspective, he may want to use. I refer to words such as "insulting" and "staggering". No one is insulting anybody. There is no desire on my behalf or that of anyone in government to insult anybody. It is too serious for that. We are talking about children who have had operations. The least we owe to the parents and families involved is the facts. We need to be independent in how we procure those facts. I have obviously not seen the final audit or anything but a draft report, apparently, was published. CHI felt parents whose kids had this operation in the past might be concerned, so it wrote a general letter to people going back over a long period. It did that with a view to trying to help to allay anxiety. Now, it is as if the number of those letters is the key answer to something. It is not, actually. The letter is quite general, from what I have seen.
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Sorry, it is not your moment.
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The generic letter I have seen essentially states that it relates to a follow-up to surgery at Children's Health Ireland to correct developmental dysplasia and that an audit is under way. It also states, in terms of skeletal maturity-----
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Please, now. This is not about politics, Deputy.
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I am not, now.
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This is outrageous behaviour by you, now.
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Deputy O'Callaghan is entitled to an answer. It is not the Sinn Féin Deputies' question.
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You have been doing this since this Dáil began, and I ask you to stop because it is too serious. I have no interest in hiding anything - none.
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Why would I? For God's sake, reflect on what you are trying to assert. I am as serious about it as anybody is. It is horrendous if anything wrong was done but we need to find out the full facts. That is what we want to do in terms of the parents and children involved. That is it.
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The Minister asked CHI to please tell her how many letters are out there, but the context of the letters is as important as the number. The final point I would make is my understanding is that the audit will be ready - fairly imminently, I hope. I do not govern that.
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I cannot force the pace in respect of that.
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We need to tease that out. What are we saying about the letters that have been sent out? Yesterday a word was used, namely "recall". Once a number is announced, people will draw all sorts of conclusions from that number. My understanding is the letter has gone out to children who have been operated on, potentially as far back as 2010, or to parents in respect of a child. The important point is to get the audit published. CHI has been asked today by the Minister to publish the number in any event, as has Cappagh. This is because CHI and Cappagh are involved here. The core issue is the audit, not the number of letters sent out to a cohort of people going back over a number of years. The letter I have read is generic. Others may have got different letters. I do not know about that and would not have access to that. The bottom line is that I would hope we will have the audit before the end of next week.
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First of all, I thank the Deputy, and I do not say it patronisingly, for very eloquently presenting the case and the comparison with our own national trauma during the 19th century in terms of the Great Famine and a deliberate policy now being perpetrated by the Israeli Government in respect of denying the basic necessities of life to the people of Gaza. It is quite shocking that Israel would, in a very deliberative way, conduct and prosecute a policy of this kind against an entire population. As I said previously in the Dáil, it is wrong in principle and in law to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population, whatever the circumstances, and this behaviour clearly constitutes a war crime. In that context, we are working with other like-minded member states in the European Union - I have raised this with the President of the Commission - and, indeed, wherever we can to bring about international pressure on Israel to allow the basic necessities of life and unhindered aid into Gaza. The level of malnutrition among children is absolutely shocking and appalling. The trauma that has been visited upon the children of Gaza is lifelong. Many have been orphaned and many have lost siblings, parents and uncles and, of course, entire families have been wiped out by the shocking bombing of a very urban and densely populated environment. In terms of the issues the Deputy has raised, we will continue to work with Spain, Slovenia, Norway, Iceland and other countries where we would have similar views in respect of this, and to try to get a stronger position from the entire membership of the European Union, at a minimum, in respect of the humanitarian situation and to get Gaza opened to aid. The people in Gaza are trapped in Gaza. The Deputy mentioned in terms of famine that people can escape but people are trapped in Gaza due to the military activity and the bombing, but also the starvation and not having access to outside assistance or outside support. There is no shortage of humanitarian aid outside of Gaza at Rafah and other locations. There is no shortage of neighbouring Arab states that want to supply aid and support. The issue is getting it in there in the first instance. Now, the latest manifestation of Israeli policy, in endeavouring to control the entirety of the aid programme, is also reprehensible and unacceptable. We will continue to do what we can to get Gaza open for humanitarian aid and assistance.
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I take the Deputy’s point, although I do believe we need key powers to intervene. We need key powers, such as the US and major European Union-----
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Hear me out, please. Major European Union countries-----
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We have done it. Ireland on its own is not going to shift the dial on this.
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I just want to make the point. I have noticed a shift in European opinion on this. The bigger powers, quite frankly, have to intervene here because of what is happening morally, and we will, too, but-----
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-----the realpolitik of this is very clear to me. The big powers-----
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I appreciate we are all-----
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I am just stating the facts. It is very clear to me that the major powers have to intervene to get Israel to change course and stop doing what it is doing.
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