Micheál Martin

I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 39, inclusive, together. The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable, economic, social and environmental development in Ireland. The last two significant NESC reports published and submitted to Government were council report No.170, Connecting People to the Energy Transition, and NESC report N…

Deputy Boyd Barrett was first into the fray in terms of the winter payment and so forth. The Government took a lot of measures on energy in the budget, for example, reducing the VAT rate to 9% and keeping it there until 2030, including the working family payment in the fuel allowance and increasing the fuel allowance by €5 so that there are a very substantial number of people now benefiting. There…

The left wing in this country never ceases to amaze me.

We do. We have the most progressive tax system. We have, by any yardstick-----

-----which is quite substantial and effective. The bottom line anyway is that we are targeting the resources at those who need it most. I accept there is pressure on energy. Of that, there is not doubt, but to keep doing €2 billion to €3 billion in one-off payments is not sustainable. One third of our revenue is corporate tax. That may not last forever. We need to embed measures into the permanen…

Yes, the Deputy is.

I do not know it.

The Deputy deliberately disingenuously goes on that we are doing it for big tech.

Six thousand are employed in one company alone in the city of Cork. Thousands are employed all over the country in technology companies.

I am not talking about them. Sorry, a lot of those companies-----

The Deputy cannot disassociate or segregate all of that.

The Deputy cannot do that. Then AI is next on the agenda.

We cannot miss out. We have to manage it. We have to harness it. We have to develop it and we are. We are investing up to €18 billion in PR6 to increase grid capacity. We are investing in interconnectors as well and seeking further grid connections, with the Continent as well as with the United Kingdom, to try to support what we are doing. Renewables are making a very sizeable contribution.

Some days it can be 50% of electricity generation in this country. The Deputy knows that too but that is a figure that he will never reference. Deputy Quaide raised the transition to EVs. He has left the House. Members keep going around in circles because on another day, they support proposals where people do not even have cars outside houses at this stage. This is a challenge. There is no easy a…

Yes. We are also progressing that. The Deputy also asked about communities generating and sharing themselves. That is something we have to progress better. Deputy Heneghan raised the same. There are issues there. The private wires legislation is moving fast. I cannot get into leaflet dropping by a State agency, but it should do it properly and it should look after the public and make sure they ar…

Deputy McCormack said Offaly is leading the way. It is a powerful set of statistics. Everybody in the House is probably not aware of the degree to which Offaly is becoming a powerhouse. Bord na Móna is a big factor here. We will have further developments on that front, and investments. It is time that foreign direct investment and IDA Ireland looked at what Offaly has to offer. Contrary to what D…

First, I acknowledge the presence of our good friend, H.E. Dennis King from Canada, and articulate our deepest sympathies to the people of Tumbler Ridge and to Canada more generally on the appalling murder of nine innocent victims yesterday. Our hearts, prayers and thoughts are with the entire community. I also appreciate and welcome the attendance in the Public Gallery of people from Donegal in …

-----and Sinn Féin is trying to usher it in because it is interested in chaos, but supply is also important.

Scarcity of supply will be the most impactful thing on prices over the medium term and the Deputy knows that.

Sinn Féin has no interest in supply and has demonstrated no interest for quite some time.

The Deputy could not care less about whether we provide more houses for the young people of this country because every policy-----

She is against everything. She is against every proposal. She is full of soundbite and shallow-----

It is not the truth. I am telling you now where you are. You have opposed every single thing for the last four years in relation to housing here.

It opposed all the affordable schemes we came up-----

-----with that were trying to help young people. The bottom line here, through the Chair, is that we need supply and we have to have a rental framework that facilitates investment and greater supply of housing.