2026-04-22

We extend a very warm welcome to the students of the Holy Faith school in Glasnevin who are in the Public Gallery. They are very welcome. There is real anger among workers and families pushed to the brink by the cost of living. People are working and paying their way yet they are falling further behind with each passing week. We finally have a very frank admission from the Minister for public expenditure, Jack Chambers. He now admits that last year's budget - in his own words - did not give workers a break. There it is. The Taoiseach's own Minister is finally saying out loud what we have been telling him for six months - what the Taoiseach has been denying for six months - that his €9.4 billion budget did absolutely nothing for ordinary working people. In fact, it left them worse off. That budget drove the deep anger and frustration we now see across the State. As prices were rising and bills were mounting, while working families were under the most severe pressure, the Government withdrew supports. It abandoned its election promises one after another, and it left people high and dry. The Taoiseach had the resources and he made the wrong call. Now the consequences are everywhere. Workers are squeezed, households are stretched to breaking point, people are cutting back on basics and making impossible choices, wondering how they will get through the week, not to mind the next month. The Taoiseach's own Minister now admits the truth. Will the Taoiseach do the same? Will he admit that he got it wrong? Will he accept that his poor decision-making left working people exposed to the full force of this cost-of-living crisis? Let us be clear. The Government did not just fail to help people but it made things worse. Workers were punished but others did very well - corporate landlords and the banks. Big funds were protected. Those at the top were well looked after. That was the Government's political choice. That was the Taoiseach's personal priority. The Government withdrew supports and then it piled on the costs and increased the charges. School transport costs are up. The junior and leaving certificates were reintroduced, and all of it landing on those same people - the workers and families who are already struggling. The Government does not listen or understand. It is out of touch with the reality of people's lives. The Taoiseach's Minister now says that everything is on the table for the next budget. Everything. Let us test that. Is his promise to cut the USC on the table - a promise he broke? For low and middle income workers, the USC is a constant drag on wages. Every extra shift and every extra hour worked is taxed again. It punishes work and eats into pay packets. D'admhaigh an tAire, an Teachta Chambers, nach raibh aon fhaoiseamh d’oibrithe sa bhuiséad deireannach. Táimid á rá sin leis an Taoiseach le sé mhí anuas. An féidir leis glacadh leis sin anois faoi dheireadh? An aontaíonn sé lena Aire féin? Having failed workers last October, is the Taoiseach seriously asking them now to wait until next January to see any support from him? The crisis is now. It is immediate. It is being felt every single day at kitchen tables across the country. People cannot wait.

As a result of the budget last year, public expenditure will rise by 8.6%. That is not failing anybody. That is a very high increase in investment in public services that all workers benefit from - families and people generally. It is investment in education, health, childcare and right across the board but most critically in housing. Housing remains the number one issue facing our country. We put unprecedented investment into housing so that young working people could benefit from significant supports, from the help to buy scheme, the first home scheme and the rental tax credit. We introduced a significant range of supports to increase housing supply so that young people could be in a position to buy and rent houses they could afford. We will continue to relentlessly pursue the housing question. In the budget we also, critically, put huge investment into infrastructure. We need new roads, a metro and public transport. All of that helps workers. That is the strategic decision we took to make sure there would be unprecedented investment in water, the electricity grid for electricity and energy, and in terms of road infrastructure and public transport. Deputy McDonald ignores all of that because she does not adopt a strategic approach to jobs or to the economy. She should always remember that the most important thing in life is that we have an economy that can provide jobs to people. Last year 57,000 extra jobs were created in the economy, which is for working people. They are jobs that will enable them to navigate life, notwithstanding the pressures. We did not forecast the war in the Middle East. I listened to Deputy McDonald yesterday and today and she ignored the fact there is a war in the Middle East, which is directly impacting fuel prices. That has led to the increase in fuel and has also impacted on other issues. It will filter into other parts of the economy, which is impacting on workers and on families more generally. That is why we announced a €750 million package, which will help workers, farmers and contractors. Food production is very important. The general excise duties will help also. We also increased the State pensions by €10 in the budget. We increased child support payments. Deputy McDonald ignores that. It was the biggest increase ever. The families of children aged 12 plus get €16 extra, bringing it to €78 per week, while there is an extra €8 for the families of children under 12, bringing it to €58 per week. That was to deal with child poverty because we did prioritise child poverty, along with housing and infrastructure. We also prioritised disability. An extra €500 million was allocated to disability services. We increased the domiciliary care allowance by an extra €20. We made choices to support and target our resources at those most in need, and those sectors that needed significant investment. We increased the fuel allowance by €5 per week. We extended it by a month and we brought 50,000 working families into the fuel allowance for the first time ever, which will help them in some shape or form, and alleviate pressure on them. In terms of energy, we also extended the reduction in VAT. We had reduced VAT to 9% on gas and electricity. We have now extended that out to December 2030. We have record funding for home energy upgrades, which benefits many workers. A total of €558 million was allocated in the budget. Deputy McDonald mentioned education, schooling and so on. We now have free GP care for children under the age of eight. Every individual aged 70 and over has automatic eligibility to a GP visit card.

I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy McDonald. The Taoiseach can come back in.

We have free school books and free hot school meals across every single school in the country-----

I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up. I call Deputy McDonald.

-----which benefits workers, working families and society at large.

The Taoiseach's response is very telling because he ignores the immediate reality of people's lives.

Hear, hear.

He ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of households cannot pay their electricity bills; that families the length and breadth of the country are struggling with their rent, grocery bills, and to put bread on the table. He does not want to know that. There is nothing strategically positive about leaving people in poverty. There is nothing good about creating that level of stress or hardship for families and workers across the country. The Taoiseach's own Minister accepts that. He has said out loud what we all know: that the last budget failed working people and families. He has said and accepted that. How very telling that the Taoiseach cannot accept that. He turns his face away from the people he should serve. He turns his face away from the reality of their lives.

I thank the Deputy.

It seems, no matter how hard it gets-----

I call on the Taoiseach to respond.

-----Fianna Fáil and Micheál Martin, are quite happy to let people struggle on but people will not tolerate that-----

The Deputy’s time is up.

-----and the Taoiseach will get his response again.

Hear, hear.

Tá cogadh ar siúl. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta é sin. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil brú faoi leith ar theaghlaigh ar fud na tíre agus ar mhuintir na tíre de dheasca an chogaidh atá ar siúl agus ardú praghsanna de dheasca an chogaidh sin. The Deputy has ignored and failed to mention the fact that the war in the Middle East has been a significant factor in the increase in fuel prices. Everybody knows that except her. Equally, she attacked measures in the budget that targeted the poorest working families and the poorest in society. She did not believe in targeting. She wants universality across the board.

The Taoiseach is completely out of touch.

She had a similar approach to Liz Truss on the energy question.

The Taoiseach is completely out of touch. Does he actually pay bills?

We have-----

Does he go to the supermarket?

The Taoiseach’s time is up.

Sorry but I did not interrupt the Deputy. She has always had an inability to allow other people to speak because she does not like the truth.

Fair hearing, Taoiseach.

All I am saying is that we know people are under pressure.

Do you?

That is why we introduced the €750 million package.

Do you?

That is why we introduced the €2 billion-----

No, you do not.

-----social protection package to protect pensioners and workers who needed support.

I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Bacik.

We will do more, and we will do more in the next budget, just as we did in previous budgets.

When?

Next year.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach described Ireland's economic outlook as positive but in a wealthy country, one in five children lives below the bread line. Nearly 5,500 are now homeless. We are once again approaching a new school year with a shortage of special education places. Tonight's programme "RTÉ Investigates: Inside the Care System" highlights the shocking State failings in respect of children in care. The Children's Rights Alliance has described the haunting gaps in our country's response to children in need of care. We know the State takes a child away from their parents and places them in care only as a last resort and in the most extreme circumstances, generally where a child is subject to serious risk. I used to act as guardian ad litem on behalf of vulnerable children in care proceedings, in some of the most distressing situations imaginable. Demand for care places has increased, yes, but a lack of capacity has always been an issue in the system. We have been approaching a breaking point for years. Tusla now routinely asks the courts to approve placing a child in care while at the same time asks the judge not to grant a mandatory order requiring compliance with its legal obligations. This is extraordinary. Having decided that a child's situation is so dire as to require the State to act as the parent, Tusla, it seems, cannot recruit or retain enough staff to provide that State care. A starker failure could scarcely be conceived of. Another vulnerable group is children with additional needs. Again, the Government has known of the exponential growth in the number of children requiring a special education place for this coming academic year. We in the Labour Party welcomed the news that 430 places have been made available and acknowledged that but the shortfall was 600. That is without accounting for all those parents who have had to accept a place in a mainstream or a special school knowing it is inappropriate for their child's particular needs. In February, we saw the public outcry following the debacle over threatened cuts to special needs assistant, SNA, allocation. Our SNAs and teachers do extraordinary work under sustained pressure but they are being asked to deliver inclusion in practice without the key resources they need in schools. That is not fair or sustainable. Inclusion is officially the national policy of the State but without adequate resourcing, it is meaningless. Every week, we all hear from principals, teachers and exhausted parents who are fighting for the appropriate supports for their children. These problems are not going away. During the general election, Labour launched its children's charter, a roadmap for strengthening the rights of children in Ireland. Those in government have been failing children. Despite budget surpluses, we see the Government failing children in care, children in poverty or homelessness, and children with additional needs. Will the Taoiseach adopt a planned response to guarantee the rights of every child in Ireland, including the rights to a home and to a local school place?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an extremely important issue. There is a child poverty unit within my Department which actually had a significant impact on the last budget but everybody attacked it because it just targeted those most in need. I hope the Deputy will agree with me that what was done with the child support payment was going in the right direction to deal with poverty among children. It is. Others want universality everywhere but we do need to target and make choices if we do want to reduce consistent poverty among children, and I am determined to do it. With the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, in the last budget, we took significant steps in that direction. On the RTÉ documentary on special care, the care of young children and children coming into care, the experiences described are extremely disturbing. The Government takes that with the utmost seriousness. There has been considerable investment, structural reform and a very determined effort to eliminate inappropriate placements but demand for services is increasing at a very rapid rate. Demand for Tusla services has more than doubled since the agency’s establishment in 2014. In 2025 alone, 106,000 referrals to Tusla were received. That is a 10% increase on previous years. Clearly, there are complex societal pressures, including domestic violence, homelessness and addiction. About 5,900 children are in foster or residential care. Close to 3,000 young people are in aftercare. We will continue to invest, to increase investment and to try to enhance services. Recruitment is not necessarily a funding issue alone; it is also about getting people of the right quality. We have more work to do in this area in terms of full therapeutic supports for children in care. In terms of special education, the bottom line is that we brought forward a portal with an early date for applications for special classes and so forth. This has resulted in a significant increase compared with last year. That dramatic increase has seen us end up with 6,000 pupils. We will be providing for children for next September. We are now looking at over 26,000 special needs assistants. The Deputy said they will not be getting support but they will be. The new inclusive special-class approach will ensure one teacher and two SNAs for every six pupils. That will result in a very significant enhancement over and above what had already been provided for in terms of SNAs. The numbers are growing very significantly, as is the overall budget for special education. The Cabinet has approved €650 million extra in current funding for education, with a significant amount of it directed towards accommodating special education. I can go through all the various classes and special schools that have been established. We will meet what is required.

We acknowledge that the Government is spending money. That is not in doubt but our issue, and that of parents, teachers, SNAs and school communities all around the country, is the question of how it is spending it and the lack of a planned approach. The Taoiseach mentioned the €650 million bailout for the Department of education as if it were something to be proud of but the fact that it was necessary is exactly the problem. It shows the lack of planning. Parents are crying out for school places and supports for children with additional needs. We are seeing a lack of planning. The bailout is all over the place. How did the Taoiseach not know the money would be required? He knows the number of children who require additional school places. The same applies to the care system. We are seeing money spent on special care centres that are unregulated, unregistered and under the radar. These are private facilities that lack supervision and inspection. The amount of money being spent is extraordinary. RTÉ has stated it costs €750,000 per child per year for a special placement.

The Taoiseach will now respond. The Deputy's time is up.

Yet we are failing children because the Taoiseach’s Government is failing to plan.

The Taoiseach to respond, please.

I disagree. It was a decision to bring forward the date so parents and schools would have ample time. It has transpired that parents of many children who were in mainstream classes have applied for special classes. The Deputy is now acknowledging that we are spending money but some weeks ago she was saying we were cutting back on SNAs.

We were because the Government got it so wrong.

The Government was.

Please. Allow the answer.

That is what the Deputy said last week, knowing full well-----

The Government was cutting back.

Allow the answer.

No, sorry. A rule of thumb is that if SNAs are not required in any school in any given year, they should not be there. There should always be regular checking.

But it was a matter of how it was done.

Deputy, please.

No, it is not. I get that when in opposition, politicians have to do what is required but the bottom line, I take it, is that the Deputy is not opposing the increase in SNAs.

Deputies, if you do not listen, the Taoiseach is entitled to resume his seat. I call Deputy Stanley.

The ongoing problems with the National Ambulance Service are not being addressed. I raised the serious gaps in the ambulance service, particularly in County Laois, with the Taoiseach last year, and it is through no fault of the staff. The number of staff in the county has not increased in the past two decades, despite the explosion in its population. Five vehicles are based in the county, with just two available most of the time. That is five nights of the week. On Monday and Tuesday nights, just one vehicle is available. This vehicle is often a long distance away, so if a serious incident arises, no ambulance is available to attend patients. This is happening on a regular basis in the county. I can list off several cases recently where that has happened. Crews in Laois can be sent to Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow, Westmeath and Waterford. Often when they are almost at the patient's location, they are stood down and told to turn around and come back because another ambulance has just reached it. Recently, a crew from Portlaoise was two or three minutes from a scene in Wicklow but it was turned back. Dynamic deployment is not working. Crews are chasing around the country, travelling long distances without picking up patients. One crew came on to a shift recently in Portlaoise and was despatched on six occasions. On four of those occasions, the crew was stood down, including when it was almost where the patient was. It was told to turn around and come back to Portlaoise empty. On one of those occasions, it was away for almost four hours while emergencies were waiting in Laois. Calls are being stacked. Between the time a call comes in, it could be two hours before an ambulance is actually deployed due to shortages. In a recent case involving an elderly woman in Clara, the call came in at 6.27 p.m. but the ambulance did not get there until 9.51 p.m - almost three and a half hours later. Meanwhile, there was a person in Portlaoise with a serious injury but the three ambulances were gone and there was nobody to pick up that person. There is no rapid response vehicle in the county, despite the fact there are 56 in the State. Civil defence and the fire service are picking up the slack. Rathdowney fire service in one corner of the county dealt with four cardiac patients within a three-month period. Crews are going without regular breaks, meals, etc. The service is understaffed and under-resourced. Will the Government provide a rapid response vehicle in County Laois? Will it ensure that at least two ambulances and crews are on at all times? Can it engage with the National Ambulance Service? The Government and the Minister for Health need to do this and get a more logical deployment model.

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue, particularly for his constituents in County Laois. We have a National Ambulance Service. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate I cannot run the National Ambulance Service from here but I will engage with the issues he raised and I will talk to the Minister for Health about them. The National Ambulance Service will always defend the model it has, and it has consistently defended it over time. Notwithstanding that, we have heard illustrations, observations or commentary from different parts of the House about how that service has not been optimal in terms delays attending particular accidents, events or locations. I heard about one yesterday from Deputy McAuliffe, involving an elderly woman in Dublin waiting four hours. We will engage with the National Ambulance Service but the investment has continued apace. I take the point made by Deputy Bacik earlier that it is not just about investment. I accept that. It is about how the investment is deployed and allocated and what the productivity outcome is from moneys we allocate. Since about 2022, the HSE has invested about an additional €75 million in the National Ambulance Service, with staff numbers increasing by 761 in the same period. Over 85% of National Ambulance Service staff work in direct patient-facing roles. That does help improve ambulance response performance, with additional emergency ambulances, immediate care services and developing alternative care pathways, including community paramedic services. As the Deputy knows, a new helicopter emergency medical service has been established in the west and the north west. That does not affect Laois. There is further investment this year as a result of the budget, with €34 million for renewal and expansion of the fleet. This is €34 million for emergency ambulances and other response vehicles. The investment is continuing. We are looking at about €291 million being spent on the National Ambulance Service in 2026, with about 2,503 employees. That is up again on the same period last year. Further investment is planned this year, with 21 extra crewed ambulances at peak demand, four intermediate care vehicles and the continued development of clinical hubs and alternative care pathways. I will speak to the Minister about the emergency response vehicle for Laois and will ask her to reflect on and engage with the National Ambulance Service in terms of the model it uses.

When we compare what we have to what Scotland, which has similar population and geography, has, it has 5,000 staff while we have just over 2,500. Scotland has 1,500 vehicles while we have 620, so I think the Taoiseach accepts there is ground to be made up. The spring economic statement that came out yesterday shows there are substantial resources there. I am not asking the Taoiseach to throw that money around like confetti. I do not want him to do that but I want the Government to make the ambulance service a key priority in the forthcoming budget. It is essential. We have heard enough over the years about the golden hour. If an ambulance does not get to a person for two or three hours, time is lost. I am asking the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health to ensure County Laois is provided with a rapid response vehicle because we are at the crossroads of Ireland with the N7, N8, N80 and N78 all going through the centre of the county. I am asking the Taoiseach to ensure there is positive engagement with the National Ambulance Service to sort out rapid deployment and to ensure two or three ambulances are on at all times in County Laois.

Regarding the spring-October statement, the general Government balance is in surplus but all of that money is being used. There is an Exchequer deficit of €1.1 billion. The rest goes into the funds, which we have provided for. Nobody is commenting on that. That €10 million is not hanging around somewhere to be used. The bulk of it has been allocated to the funds and it is being invested in the economy, housing, infrastructure, wind energy and so on. If we look at the ambulance service over a ten, 15 or 20-year period, a revolution in emergency care has happened, for example, the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council and emergency medical technicians. The professionalisation of the entire area has been quite remarkable and has led to very significant outcomes in terms of responses to patients and first responders. It has been dramatic compared to what we had historically but I accept the Deputy's point that there are legitimate issues that need to be examined by the HSE and the National Ambulance and I will ask the Minister to do that.

I need the Taoiseach to listen very carefully. He keeps standing up here and keeps mentioning the protests in this country and the war. I will put on the record why the protests happened in this country. They happened because of the increase in taxation on fuel. I will show the Government how it can counteract this, and I have said it on numerous occasions. The Government should cap the price of fuel from which it takes tax. It is the same as income tax for every worker in this country. I will give a summary. At the moment, it is €1.92 for the haulage sector. Minus the VAT, that gives you €1.56. The Government has put a package in place for which most of them will probably not be able to qualify because most of them are under pressure. It is not only householders who are arrears but they are also in arrears. The bus companies and everyone is now in arrears. If the Government capped the fuel cost-----

Arrears?

They are in arrears on repayments for their trucks and tax arrears, so they cannot qualify for the Government's package. For everyone in this country, the Government would cap the fuel prices at €1.70 for white diesel. That would mean it would not have had to put the package in place for hauliers and everyone else in this country. It would include the package that the Government is coming out with. What that would come back to is that if you cap it, it creates stability across the country, and also creates forecasting for 12 months. What has to happen here at every budget going forward, and from now until the next budget, is that the Government has to put in a cap on what it takes in taxes. If it was €1.70 at the moment with the tax, even with the war, if there was an increase in fuel, we would not even be at €1.93 at the moment. It is the tax on the increased cost that is bringing it to €2.20. If you cap the fuel, all businesses are covered, and anyone who is registered can claim back the VAT. That makes for a stable economy. I cannot understand why the Government cannot look at this. It can do the same with green diesel for everyone in the agricultural sector and whatever sector uses it. It can do the same with kerosene, which covers all the packages that the Taoiseach is talking about, such as home heating, which people rely on. It can do the same with petrol. That would mean that every worker in this country, every person who is caring for people, including gardaí, nurses, carers and the fire service - across the board - has something at source, but the Government has to give the cap, which creates the stability, for that to work. Take the taxes up to €1.70, but after that, no more tax. I have spoken to so many businesspeople, and everyone agrees with me.

First, let us deal with that issue. The spin all along has been that we have taken in more from the VAT increase than we have given in reductions. That is not true. The bottom line is that because of the measures we took on 13 April, the percentage of the taxation component of the price of a litre of Euro-Super 95 petrol is set to fall to 44% compared with 58% at the end of March. The measures we have brought in have de facto significantly reduced the tax component of the price of fuel. Our overall package was about €750 million. The cost of that package, I acknowledge, is €670 million because we would gain about €82 million in the VAT component of it. That deals with this idea that we are getting more back. On a cap, we do not favour capping the price of diesel or petrol. We think it should be specific fuel support packages for farmers and contractors. The Deputy is automatically assuming that most people will not benefit from the package, and he sort of said that was because of arrears. I was not quite clear what he was saying. I accept that people have to be tax compliant, but I would argue that the vast majority are tax compliant. Indeed, if they work with Revenue, Revenue has already said it is going to be flexible and so on. If people have arrears with others, that does not mean they are not entitled to the package. They will be entitled to the package. It is a substantial package. Particularly in road haulage, the sector was quite satisfied with the nature of the package. The package for contractors and farmers is quite extensive at over €100 million, with a very significant reduction in the costs. People will be able to benefit from it. The Deputy has not set out with precision why he believes the vast majority will not be entitled to it. I would like him to explain why he thinks the vast majority will not be entitled to it.

No problem.

It is an important point. We have put forward a very significant package to get down the cost; there is no question about that. The figures are there in terms of how substantial the reduction is compared to what the tax component was. We will work out the package for farmers and contractors, and we will be in a position to outline those shortly. We have also provided a range of other supports to people more generally across other sectors of the economy.

It is easy to know the Taoiseach has never been involved in business because he would understand stability and forecasting if he had been. Everything that he discusses is the package. Is there one package there for the working person in this country who is travelling? The Taoiseach is talking about 2.3 million vehicles. He mentioned road hauliers. Road hauliers, in this package, are 17% of the transport network in this country. There is the Irish trucking haulage. Until this package was introduced, you did not get a subsidy if you were drawing your own goods. Now, they are included in this package. This is what I am talking about. If the Taoiseach had done what I told him on a cap on the cost of fuel, he would not have had to introduce any package. Everything would work itself out. If a person was going to work in a car, a van or otherwise, with the package on white diesel, everyone would get it, and everyone on petrol would get it. That means that not only householders would get it, but all the businesses up along. Anyone who was registered could claim their VAT back, which would reduce their costs in providing stuff for people. I am not talking about a package for this person or that person. I want a package for everyone, and a cap applies to everyone, not just one sector.

Have you costed it?

Yes.

How much?

The same revenue you had six weeks ago is the exact same revenue you will have today.

No, that is not the way-----

Look at the package.

This is a falsehood that you are presenting.

Sorry, Taoiseach, excuse me.

The Taoiseach asked me.

With the greatest of respect, it is an absolute falsehood you are presenting.

Will I answer you?

No, you will not, Deputy.

It is fairytale economics.

Do you want me to answer?

You need-----

I will do a live debate with you and answer you. There you go. Live - the two of us.

Excuse me. It does not work like that, Taoiseach. You may further engage outside this forum.

I am speaking through the Chair. He is shouting across.

Yes, through the Chair.

Live debate. Come on.

You do not expect the Deputy to answer you. You can further engage. He can ask a question, absolutely.

But I cannot.

I can. He asked me a question.

Yes, but do not give the answer here. You may need further engagement.

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. Like everything, he just wants to run down the clock.

That is enough, Deputy.

You have your video clip now, Richard. You are happy.

He ran down the clock on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael anyway.

Please, Deputy. The Taoiseach will finish his response without interruption.

I am entitled to pose a rhetorical question as a form of debate.

Yes, you are. It is Deputy O’Donoghue who is not entitled to answer it.

I would make the point. I know the Deputy was involved in the protests-----

I was supporting them.

-----and I know he took a role and so on like that, and he was deciding who was going to get all, and who was going to get-----

Sorry now.

-----which I do not agree with, but-----

On a point of order, that is out of order.

I want to ask you------

On a point order, I went down and negotiated as a public representative. You had someone on the live airwaves who has misled the public.

Deputy, resume your seat.

He has made a challenge against me.

Deputy, resume your seat.

Deputy, what I will say to you-----

He has made a challenge against me. Live debate. That is all you are good for, running down the clock.

Resume your seat.

He made a charge.

That is the end of Leaders’ Questions. The Deputy does not wish to hear the response.

Finally, through the Chair, I have worked with the Deputy before. He is doing a lot of shouting and roaring here today in the Chamber. He has asked me about different things in the past, plenty of times, as a Dáil Deputy, and I have responded to him. I treated him courteously. All I am saying is that I have no difficulty discussing with the Deputy at any time.

No problem.