First, I would like to offer my deep condolences and those of the Government and the entire team here at the Oireachtas on last night's very sad passing of our colleague and friend Seamus Carroll, husband of another colleague, Treasa Carroll. Seamus was a very respected member of the usher team and there will be a strong sense of shock and upset among the team throughout the House today. We think of him and pray for him, Treasa and his entire family at this very sad time. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Gabhaim …

Mr. Farrell has said, and I would agree with this from experience, that inquiries work best when they have a defined scope and time. Any inquiry that is absolutely open-ended or has very broad terms of reference can go on for a very long time and I do not believe that is in the interests of the parents, families or children involved. That is why he suggested 2019 to 2025, inclusive, with 2019 marking the establishment of CHI. It is a six-year period. As I said earlier, discretion will be there for the chairperson i…

I just-----

That is why we opted for a commission-----

On 2019, what I am saying is that the chairperson will be given sole discretion to go beyond or back from that date as issues arise.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Is léir ón méid atá déanta againn go dtí seo an bhliain seo caite agus na blianta roimhe sin go bhfuilimid sásta mar Rialtas an-chuid tacaíocht agus cabhair a thabhairt do phinsinéirí na tíre seo i ngach aon tslí is féidir linn. Táimid chun é sin a dhéanamh arís sa bhuiséad atá le teacht. Tá sé suimiúil go bhfuil an Teachta ag léamh na bpáipéar nuachtáin lá i ndiaidh lae. Caithfidh sé a bheith amhrasach chomh maith. The Deputy should not believe everything he reads in the newspaper…

First, we recognise the enormous pressure on families and pensioners because of the cost-of-living crisis, which was fundamentally brought about by two major wars, namely, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the 2026 Middle East conflict between the United States and Iran, which really has caused ripples across the entire world in terms of energy prices and knock-on effects on the cost of living. Last year, we took very significant measures in the budget to protect the most vulnerable, including pensioners, and we …

We will fulfil the programme for Government over the lifetime of this Government. Of that there is no doubt.

I did not interrupt the Deputy and he should not be interrupting me. There is a very set protocol in here. The bottom line is this: the Deputy should not be depending on speculation. Budget day will reveal the full intent of the Government's contribution.

First, the Deputy's presentation of what I articulated here yesterday is wrong. I did not say I was not going to intervene in anything. Describing my position as a non-interventionist approach is wrong; it is false. Of course, he has to present his argument in that way to justify his subsequent comments. All political leaders - all of us - have an obligation in terms of this issue to be careful of what we say and how we say it if we want a resolution of it. I do not accept the Deputy's comparison of what is happeni…

I agree with the Deputy that we cannot go into history but the Black and Tan model did not work in Ireland. Coming from the county of Cork I know that too well from my history. In respect of Jon Boutcher and the PSNI, his primary objective, which he articulated with great clarity, was that no person would be injured as a result of what transpired over the last number of days from the decisions made by the Parades Commission onwards. That should be acknowledged. The Deputy talks about supremacy. If you speak to the …

We need a bit of honesty here if we are going to make any way forward and stop retreating always on all sides, including the Deputy's contribution just now. That will not achieve anything into the future. It fits an ideological frame, but it does not deal with the realities of the here and now and how we move forward. If we want a united Ireland in the future, we have to begin to articulate what that looks like and how we include people.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. There is no simple answer or response to this. I would have concerns about removing the in-camera rule in the children's court, which the Deputy has advocated for. We always have to protect children and it has to be our first priority in situations like this. That said, we should also be responsive to concerns parents and families may have about how the court system and the children's court work. We are open to engaging with advocates in that respect. There is a need for r…

I will refer the Deputy's comments to the Minister. My instincts are to protect the child at all costs. We should never underestimate the impacts of trauma on a child at an early age in terms of the child's subsequent life journey and that would be my concern. I will be honest with the Deputy and say that I am not aware of the evaluation of the systems in the UK. I am open to looking at that but we need to remember that trauma can have a longer term impact on children. I will discuss this with the Minister for just…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As I said earlier, we are in the midst of a very significant cost-of-living issue because of two major wars, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Iran, which have caused very significant increases in oil prices. Oil prices have risen from about $69 a barrel in February last to about $104 in May, while gas prices increased from €32 to €47 per megawatt hour. These are very significant increases. In the last budget we brought in a series of measures under social prot…

My understanding is that it was in budget 2010 that the carbon tax was introduced so it was not introduced five or six years ago.

It was 2010 it was brought in. The carbon tax is much bigger than what the Deputy is suggesting happened. Five or six years ago there were defined increases legislated for in respect of the carbon tax.

The actual carbon tax itself goes back to 2010.

In any event, it supports a lot of farmers. It supports the retrofitting programme which, as I said, about 280,000 people have now benefited from and also in relation to fuel poverty as well. The bigger issue is the wars have increased fuel prices enormously. That is the bigger issue. Yes, there is huge pressure on people and that is why we helped haulage, farmers and contractors with the measures we introduced earlier in the year.

Also, the budget-----