Micheál Martin

This apparently means we are on the brink of a terrible sort of negativity and so on.

Over the past ten years, there has been a consistent, incremental increase in time allocated to smaller groups within the Dáil and to Independents within the Dáil. There is a group on the far left that has about three or four Members with more speaking rights than other with 40 TDs or more.

That has been the reality over the past ten years.

There needs to be a degree of rebalancing.

Backbench Deputies need the opportunity to ask questions.

There is no big deal in that. It does not in any way-----

The big demand from members of the Opposition at the beginning, when we met with them, was not to lose any time. They have not lost any time.

The Opposition groups have actually gained time.

It is interesting. I made a fundamental point. When a general election happens, and the Deputy knows this because they have engaged with us at different times after different elections, Governments have to be formed.

There is the realpolitik of forming a government. Governments have to be formed.

Some people have no interest in forming a government. That is fair enough but others do. The programme for Government-----

The programme for Government is the document that binds the people who are going to support the Government together. Underlying all of this, and the Deputy said we could have brought this to an end, I actually do not believe the Opposition wants to bring this to an end.

The Opposition is enjoying it a bit for its own electoral purposes. However, I want to make this point-----

The Deputy cannot be serious. He talks about it costing our democracy. Eight minutes on a Tuesday and our democracy is gone.

Come on; it is farcical. However, in a more serious vein-----

What is really behind this, and it is very clear, is that the Opposition-----

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together. The National Emergency Coordination Group is the central Government platform established as part of the response to a threatened or ongoing national-level emergency under the strategic emergency management framework.

Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta as ucht an méid a dúirt sí. Níl aon amhras ach gurb é an t-ábhar is tábhachtaí agus is práinní sa tír seo ná cúrsaí tithíochta. An phríomhaidhm atá againn mar Rialtas ná níos mó tithe a chruthú agus é sin a dhéanamh chomh tapa agus is féidir linn. Is é sin bun agus barr pholasaithe an Rialtais. In the first instance, housing is the number one issue in this co…

-----and discuss those issues with them. On the housing issue, if I could comment for a moment, there were several projections throughout 2024 in respect of completions. We have exceeded targets, particularly in 2022 and 2023. We exceeded Central Bank targets and other targets that suggested we would come in lower. That is the position. The first quarter of the following year is when the statistic…

I think that is pathetic. The Deputy accuses me of spoofing? Get off the stage. No one was sniggering at any housing problem. The Deputy knows that.

It is pathetic - the protestation and the Deputy's attempt to exploit that particular moment, completely oblivious and refusing to reference the actual substance of what I said in terms of housing being the number one priority in Ireland. The Deputy can criticise our policies as a Government but she should not try to say she has a monopoly of concern or empathy on the housing question. Everybody i…

-----on many an occasion for Sinn Féin, but when it comes to putting the party fist as opposed to the country first, Sinn Féin will always put the party first.

That is why Deputy McDonald did not go to the US-----

On spurious grounds, she did not go to the US.

No one is convinced-----