Simon Harris

I agree with Deputy Neville on the importance of continuing to run budget surpluses and invest in our Future Ireland Funds – the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund – and the importance of continuing to be prudent in our spending of public money. That is why the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, and I will bring to the Cabinet next week the medium-te…

I thank the Deputy for this question, in which he has rightly asked me to outline the progress that has been made in divesting State moneys from companies that derive profits from their activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Government is clear in its opposition to illegal Israeli settlements, which are contrary to international law and damaging to the pursuit of peace in the Midd…

I will discuss and get an overview on a variety of issues with the NTMA at a first sit-down meeting. ISIF has divested from six companies on the UN database. The NTMA also divested from directly held sovereign bond holdings with a global portfolio across Egypt, Israel and Jordan in July 2025. It is important to note, as my notes suggest, that companies can come onto and off the UN database. Many…

When the Deputy uses words like "any other decent Irish person", I am not sure whether he is trying to suggest that we are indecent or to vilify.

I am wondering because the Deputy uses these loaded comments to suggest that he is decent and we are not.

Do not shout me down. I do not know how long this bully-boy routine of shouting me down is going to go on but if the Deputy could just ask me a question and allow me to answer it, it is how a democracy works. Stop shouting me down. It is a bit of basic respect.

The Deputy has been at this a long time. He knows the law of the land under the NTMA Act. Does he accept that the NTMA Act allows ISIF full independence in relation to its investment decisions? Does the Deputy accept that the Minister for Finance-----

No, I am sorry, I am speaking. Then I will sit down and the Deputy can speak.

I am asking them rhetorically of the Chair.

Does Dáil Éireann understand that under the NTMA Acts, the investment decisions of ISIF are completely and utterly independent? Deputy Doherty tried to do this to my predecessor, suggesting that he was making decisions in relation to it. It was not true then and it is not going to be true now. The Deputy is not going to do it to me. If the Deputy wants to bring forward legislative proposals to cha…

We can have the discussion. The Deputy is asking me in parliamentary question time. The second point I want to make, amidst the heckling on a serious issue, is that I do not need to be lectured on how to support the people of Palestine. Ask the Palestinian President, Prime Minister or ambassador how they have found our levels of support. I do not need a lecture from the Deputy. Is it his position…

Is that the Deputy's position? That raises very serious questions.

The consequences of that are very significant.

The Deputy misses Paschal.

Of course, Deputy Doherty chose not to start today, in his question about our economy and the budget, with the economic figures that have been published in the past hour, which show that, thanks to sensible and careful management, we have an economy that is performing well. We see modified domestic demand, which is pretty much a good proxy for domestic economic activity, growing by 5% annually for…

The Deputy’s cacophony of assistance here is great. What was implied is obviously not reflective of how a programme for Government works. To the people at home, I say we have a programme for Government that commits to what we are going to do over five years. It is a published document, available on gov.ie. We have only delivered budget one of five. The Deputy will be pleased to know there will be …

It is not mine.

Angry Pearse.

You can debate the use of the word "sensible", Pearse, but one thing is for sure, no one would ever call you "Prudent Pearse". Had we followed the economic plans of Deputy Doherty's party, God knows where we would be. He has some cheek, coming into this House and raising the issue of college fees, because I am sitting beside a Minister for higher education who has permanently reduced fees and will…

Deputy Doherty took to social media yesterday. He will probably recognise the First Minister and leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, in the picture I am holding up.

Yesterday, on its social media account, Sinn Féin heralded the fact that it had managed to freeze fees at £4,855-----

-----and put this up on its social media as though it was good news. It is more than twice what students in this jurisdiction pay.

Sinn Féin are hypocrites and phoney. Your faux outrage, Angry Pearse, does not convince anybody.

We are reducing fees in this jurisdiction. Fees in the North are more than double, and Sinn Féin thought to take to social media to say this was great news. Sinn Féin are hypocrites. People see through it and that is why they are sitting over there, giving out, rather than actually being in government, because they have no credibility on this. They say one thing here and do the exact opposite in N…

I agree with the Deputy that we obviously need to get more gardaí on our streets. We need to recruit and train more gardaí. The Deputy has made some suggestions as to how he thinks that can be done and I will come back to that in a moment. I need to make a few points about the level of investment we are now making in the Garda budget to empower the Garda Commissioner and Garda authorities to incre…