Micheál Martin

I have just outlined the measures we have taken to help people, particularly those on low incomes. I am sure the Deputy agrees, by the way. I am sure she acknowledges the increase in the fuel allowance and its expansion into the working family payment cohort, and the reduction of the VAT rate to 9% for the next five years. I am sure the Deputy welcomes all of that-----

-----and acknowledges that those are decisions the Government has taken. We will continue to help people who are in difficulty, in particular.

With the greatest of respect-----

The Deputy thinks she lives in the real world-----

-----but there are times when I think she lives in a political bubble. She should not be casting aspersions on other people in the House.

We all come from backgrounds, by the way. I know exactly what the real world is all about-----

-----and I engage with people all the time.

All along during the energy crisis, the proposals Sinn Féin came forward with, particularly during the energy crisis-----

-----after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, would have been catastrophic. Sinn Féin now wants us to do more to underpin the companies.

Sinn Féin wants us to support the companies further and further.

I understand the pressure on households and families as a result of energy price increases. We are living through a period of huge issues around energy, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Government has intervened, particularly at the height of that crisis, in a substantial way. However, retail prices are influenced by several factors, as the Deputy knows, including wholesale energy pr…

The Deputy is not saying targeted.

The Deputy did not say it there. That word was not used there. She is to a certain extent playing to the Gallery.

I do acknowledge the issue. The Deputy mentioned VAT reductions. It costs to keep VAT at 9%. That has been factored in for the next five years. We should keep it at 9% for gas and electricity. There is a problem, a huge issue, here. Over the next five years, we have to invest triple what we invested in the grid in the last three years. There is going to be more investment in the grid. That simply …

The Minister is working with the companies to help families who are in difficulty, and in particular those who are in arrears, by establishing hardship funds and making sure there will not be disconnections. That is over and above the measures we have taken to increase the fuel allowance for the working family payment cohort and to increase it more generally. The Minister has engaged with the comp…

First, I will say that we earnestly hope that the peace will be sustained in Gaza. It is extremely important every effort is made to get huge volumes of humanitarian aid into Gaza, clean water and clean fuel in sufficient quantities to enable the people of Gaza to feed themselves, that the United Nations and all of its agencies would have primacy in distributing those goods, and that there would b…

I will answer the questions but the Deputy has made assertions and I am entitled to make assertions and make our point, which is that the Irish Government has been one of the strongest advocates for the Palestinian cause-----

-----for Palestinian self-determination and the Deputy will never acknowledge that. She keeps on having a go at the Government all of the time about this aspect or another aspect but the reality is very clear and if you talk to the Palestinian Authority or Palestinians, they will say that.

In relation to the occupied territories Bill, I have been saying this for quite a while, and by the way I have read the Oireachtas committee report. In fairness, it makes the point, "The Joint Committee notes that no data was available to it to ascertain the quantity of Services imported from the Occupied Palestinian Territories and recommends that the Minister attempts to obtain and publish this …

"-----are unknowable and recommends that the Minister undertakes efforts to establish and publish a range of likely scenarios." Goods can be traced fairly easily through documentation, certificates of origin and physical supply chains. Services are a very different kettle of fish and we should all acknowledge that. I am just being honest; that is all. That is all I said yesterday.

No decision has been made in relation to services.

I am just endeavouring to be a bit honest with people. Financial consulting, software development-----

-----digital services - they do not have a clear territorial link-----

-----so there are issues there that we need to work through if we are honest about this.

The presidential election is about the person who people believe is the best person to hold the Presidency over the next seven years.