Micheál Martin

What he is saying is that everything has doubled – unemployment-----

He said it is the most unequal employment market in the world-----

-----at a time when we had 500,000 extra jobs in five years.

Yes, but who has the highest school completion rates in Europe?

Who has the better progression rates?

This country has. All I am saying is that we should have a bit of balance. I know the Deputy might be a bit, you know - but he should take it handy. A bit of balance would be appropriate in terms of the different narratives.

We have a lot of things to do. I have always acknowledged that. We had a national child poverty summit recently. Deputy Hayes might be aware of that. I can inform Deputy O'Sullivan that approximately 90% of providers are in the scheme at the moment. Some did opt out. I have spoken to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Deputy Foley, who has arrived beside me in the Chamber. There…

Deputy Tóibín used a phrase which I wrote down referring to a three-year old boy who went "missing from State care". This is his classic propagandising of a situation. It is regrettable that he would adopt such a cynical attitude, because that boy did not go missing while in State care. Does the Deputy accept that?

No, I am not asking Deputy Tóibín that. Does he accept he did not go missing while in State care?

I apologise. I should have done it through the Chair.

The point I am trying to make is-----

Yes, but the chair of the national review panel gave a very robust articulation of its role, and the effectiveness of its role. There are ongoing issues in terms of legislation and so on that can be progressed, but that should not be conflated with what happened with Daniel. We need to await the outcome and get the facts first before we jump to conclusions.

I have observed Deputy Tóibín's position on this for quite some time, and the overriding objective seems to be to blame Tusla for every child in the country who goes missing. That is wrong.

There can be wrongdoing or neglect in some cases but Deputy Tóibín raises it in every case. That is wrong.

It is unfair to those working in Tusla and to social workers.

That is what I believe.

I apologise to Deputy Ó Murchú.

Ní aontaím leis an Teachta mar-----

Admhaím go bhfuil brú. Gan amhras, tá brú ar dhaoine agus ar chosmhuintir na tíre maidir leis an gcostas maireachtála. Tá an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas go dtí seo chun an brú sin a ísliú. An rud is tábhachtaí sna míonna atá le teacht ná cinneadh a dhéanamh infheistíocht a chur isteach in infreastruchtúr, cúrsaí tithíochta agus a lán nithe eile chun an brú sin a ísliú. Beidh sé sin á dhéanamh again…

We are well-placed to deal with it because of the surpluses we have and so on. We have taken fundamental measures such as the free book scheme, which Sinn Féin never mentions for some reason. That was a game-changer in terms of the costs that people have going back to school.

We did that a number of years ago and the finality of it will be this September. Every school now has free school meals. These were things that, up to three years ago, were not on the agenda and Sinn Féin ignores that. We have improved the situation regarding carer's allowance. What we intend to do in the next budget is to mainstream provisions that will help people to deal with what is a high-co…

That is a positive but we have to provide for that as regards our water infrastructure, housing, energy infrastructure, public transport and roads. We are going to do that but there are limits to what any government can do.

Sinn Féin is a party of Opposition with no limits on what it would spend. In terms of expenditure, it does not matter. It is just whatever turns up on any day, it will spend a billion or two billion euro on it. That is its philosophy and mindset.

Yesterday, in Dáil Éireann, I challenged the Deputy's party to say whether it would support the EU-Canada free trade deal, which has enhanced Ireland's exports.

We were doing about €900 million in exports in 2016. We are now doing €4.1 billion, which is bread on the table of Irish working families. That is how you deal with cost of living, not being against trade deals of that importance and scale, which have real impact on the working lives of people.