Micheál Martin

-----of vital supplies and that is a big problem.

Again, it was successive Governments that invested and took the policy decisions to change the whole nature of the first responder sector. The Deputy just made a comment that no previous Government ever did anything about this. It is such an outrageous comment to make and there is no reality attached to it at all. However, the Deputy thinks that she come in and just say it and that is grand. How d…

That is nonsense.

We know.

It has.

First of all, Deputy, we are not going to negotiate an industrial relations agreement paragraph by paragraph in the Chamber. It is not feasible and we are not going to do it, but what I have said from day 1 is that there should be dialogue. The HSE remains available for engagement-----

-----with the trade unions on this matter. That is the sensible way to resolve this. Anyone involved in industrial relations over the years realises and knows that. By the way, we are long gone from the day of ministerial interventions in every single dispute that could potentially arise. That day is gone. We have a very sophisticated way of resolving disputes that involves experienced people. The…

First of all, ní aontaím leis an Teachta. Pacáiste cuimsitheach atá ann i dtaobh na feirmeoirí agus na daoine atá ag obair san fheirmeoireacht. Suas le €100 milliúin atá i gceist le haghaidh na míonna sonracha. I do not accept the Deputy's proposition that the fuel subsidy scheme for farmers and agricultural contractors is inadequate. It is a comprehensive scheme that was worked out in discussions…

If the Deputy wants to scrap it entirely, just like that, it would be huge money. Has he costed that?

Where is the Deputy going to find it? I am asking the rhetorical question. He will ask for another billion somewhere else, and another billion somewhere else, and another billion over here. That has been Aontú's performance all year.

Aontú expects us to magic up money for farmers, magic up money for those on social protection and magic up money for tax cuts for working people. We have to magic all that up as well. We have to magic up money for education, magic up money for social protection and keep abolishing any tax that exists. That is Aontú's approach. It is fantasy land.

You are not living in the real world. We will spend all of the carbon tax revenue-----

-----on vital areas to do with climate, energy efficiency and retrofitting. That is the thing to do, and farmers as well, by the way.

At the outset, I welcome and congratulate three students from Mullaghbuoy National School and the green committee there. Donal McMorland, Jason Woods and Jack O'Neill were the regional winners of the award for global citizenship today in Tullamore. They are very welcome to Dáil Éireann. The Minister, Deputy Browne, did not make that decision, but there was a communication from Department official…

I support investment in cycling. The greenways, cycleways and active travel programme have represented a transformation over the past decade in particular. It has been fantastic. People are voting with their feet in places where safe cycleways can be provided. Obviously, we need more sensible arrangements in terms of bike sheds, if I am honest. People did seek that here in Leinster House and we sa…

I think what we need is all of our officials in the Department working flat out to make sure that every child gets an appropriate place next September. That is where we need staff deployed. We do not need new units to start producing data. There is a balance to be struck in terms of the deployment of public servants. We are increasing the number of public servants on an annual basis. The increase …

I have already spoken on this earlier in the House. I accept the workers do not want to be on strike. It is wrong to say that the HSE or the Government does not want to reward front-line workers. There were good faith negotiations entered into. The unions recommended the outcome of those negotiations that came out of the WRC to the workers. The ballot was negative. The HSE is saying it is availabl…

First of all, we have put significant increased resources into the ambulance service and have incrementally increased it on an ongoing basis. They have been very significant increases, which I outlined earlier to the House. I think it was a 41% increase since 2022. I can check that figure again. Deputy Tóibín needs to be careful with figures, as he knows. He tends to manipulate figures from time …

I have noticed that in different areas. Some people's cases may have had nothing to do with the ambulance service getting there. The Deputy must acknowledge that, too.

I know, but the Deputy implies it. That is the problem.

We need dialogue. We need negotiations in the WRC to get this resolved.

I am very conscious of the situation there. I have visited that hospital on a number of occasions. As a model 4 hospital, it is in urgent need of significant modernisation in terms of infrastructure and it needs that 300-bed block. It is critical to it. There has been a lot of work done already to get to this stage. One could argue that it has taken an inordinate length of time to get to where we …

I thank Deputy Timmins very much for his constructive proposals. I will certainly talk to the Minister for housing in regard to his suggestions around amendments to the national guidelines and developing a very pragmatic approach, given the severity of the housing crisis we are facing.

I cannot get involved in every single application. I am not clear about what Deputy O'Rourke is saying. Is it an application for an extra classroom?

Teachers come automatically if the numbers increase. There is a pupil-teacher ratio that applies automatically if numbers increase in any given school. I doubt it is a question of the sanctioning of a teacher. Maybe because so many people want to get into the school it does not have the capacity right now, but that is another issue and maybe it needs to be resolved with the Department. I will rais…