Mairéad Farrell

Actually, it is my speaking time. Of course, the Government parties must be absolutely exhausted from having to relive their Leaving Certificate maths exam where they seem to have struggled with Question No. 1: how many junior Ministers does it take to form a government?

The answer that they settled on was 23, which is in contrast to that in previous years' exam papers, which was lower. Anyone who would have paid attention to the way they campaigned during the general election would have been forgiven for thinking that their focus today would have been on the people and the people that we represent, but, no, they are not having their focus on people across this St…

The Government is making thousands of carers who are on reduced payments wait until July to get their allowance increases. Let them have them now. It is the same when it comes to the occupied territories Bill. It has been a long-term commitment from Fianna Fáil. It was in the previous programme for Government. The legislation was done.

It was supported by all parties in the previous Dáil and by the overwhelming majority of the electorate. What did Government parties do? They sat on their hands, talked around in circles and tied themselves in knots. Then, when the election campaign was on, it was their priority. Now that the election is over, they are telling us that they need different legislation. There were a lot of people out…