Simon Harris

The Deputy should read the next bit.

The Deputy should read the next bit.

The Deputy should read the next bit.

I am delighted that Sinn Féin is now in favour of reducing tax on work.

My party found that to be a lonely journey in the past several years-----

-----as Sinn Féin opposed it every time we did it.

Deputy Doherty might read the programme for Government, where it specifically says that if it comes to a choice between investment in public services or tax, we know which we will do.

Now, Deputy Doherty talks about-----

I will use my time, if that is okay. Did the Deputy hear the town planner yesterday on "Morning Ireland" talk about how the measures we have taken will help more apartments to be built? Sinn Féin wants more homes to be built, but spends half its time objecting to them. It says it wants to treat housing as an emergency.

We treat it as an emergency, using the tax code to stimulate viability.

Sinn Féin proposed 23 new taxes, €3.3 billion more-----

It would be a failure.

It is an alternative budget that would blow our economy. The people rejected it.

Thank you very much. We will keep this country safe.

We will develop and invest in our public services-----

----- and deliver homes, and we will deliver our promises-----

-----in the programme for Government over five years.

The Deputy saying it is so, does not make it so.

I thank Deputy Kelly for highlighting this issue. I know he is using his personal experiences as an example but I want to extend my sympathy and that of everyone in the House for the bereavement his wife experienced recently and indeed the loss of his father. I also wish his mother our best. The generation of politicians who went before us gave an example of how to botch health reconfiguration. I…

I thank the Deputy. I accept the Government needs to make a timely decision on this and I accept it is an issue that has gone on for many years. In fairness to the Minister for Health, she is proactively engaging on this issue. The point the Deputy makes about population is really key. He is correct that the population of the mid-west region is growing faster than the population of many other regi…

We all agree with expanding capacity. Then there is the question of whether we further expand the UHL campus but also develop it on another site - that is what it says - or, for want of a less colloquial phrase, do we start from scratch and develop a new model 3 hospital? Both options recognise that there will have to be significant new healthcare capacity above and beyond the current Dooradoyle s…

First, I share the Deputy’s condemnation of what happened to our five Irish citizens. I have just received confirmation that Deputy Heneghan is back in Ireland. I had a brief message from him to that effect. It seems Israel released parliamentarians first. I know he is Deputy O’Callaghan’s constituency colleague. He is back in Ireland but the remaining Irish citizens will be engaging with our emba…

It is absolutely what I said in the manifesto and I talked about it an awful lot. Every party in this Dáil gave that commitment and we stand by that commitment. However, we have outlined a record budget for childcare of €1.5 billion. The national childcare scheme is now funded for an additional 35,000 children next year. There is a 14% increase in the number of children benefitting. In the coming …

We are already acting. That is why it is important that parents know. If the Deputy is saying that parents do not follow this, then I completely disagree. Let parents watching know this: the budget we just delivered provided funding for 35,000-----

The Deputy said that people do not read election manifestoes in detail but I think people watch these things very closely.