I will start with the Deputy's final point and say, yes, the Irish Government will be involved at all levels and at the highest level in relation to this ongoing, tense and concerning issue. I think everybody in the House would agree that we have come much too far to ever go back, when it comes to the North. We all agree on that. In many ways this is not simply a Green versus Orange issue. It is actually an issue of whether people want to go forward or backwards, and we all want to move forward. I believe there are…

In all fairness, I think I have very clearly answered that question. We will be continuing to stay involved at the highest levels, and at all levels political and official, with counterparts and interlocutors in the British Government and the Secretary of State, with the community and residents, and with political parties and political leaders in the North, including Deputy Cullinane's party leadership as well. I have been very clear, as has the Taoiseach, in our view regarding the decision of the Parades Commissio…

If we are to have an honest debate around this it would be helpful if we listened to each other. It would be very helpful if Deputy Rice had listened to what the Taoiseach said in the House yesterday when this issue was raised. It is not helpful to the many parents who engaged with Mr. Farrell's scoping inquiry. He is a very eminent senior counsel, which I am sure Deputy Rice would accept, who has done a very comprehensive piece of work. He has listened to so many people and read so many documents. It is he, not me…

Me too.

When we talk about families we have to accept there is a diversity of views. There are absolutely some families and advocacy groups-----

Allow me to speak. They have a view that this should be held fully in public. There are also some who do not believe that. No matter what the number is, everybody has a right to be heard. When we are talking about the medical information of a person or their child, they have a right to be heard in a way that works for them. We do not need to be adversarial on these issues. People can choose to be if they want to, or we can try to get a flexible structure in place based on the expert legal opinion of a very eminent …

I thank the Deputy very much. There is certainly no fear of Labour's alternative budget being leaked anyway. I look forward to it being published later this afternoon and having a chance to read it and engage constructively on it in the time ahead. At the outset, let me say that while we will all come at this from different perspectives and points of view, I do not doubt that every party in this House, Government and Opposition will be endeavouring to explore ways in which we can all assist people with the cost-of-…

I love honest debate and I welcome it. I look forward to honest, robust debate on our proposals and Labour's proposals in a constructive spirit to try to get the best outcome for the people that we are all elected to serve. I will make the point that just because the Department says it needs more, does not mean that a Government should say "Grand, here is another cheque".

We have got to a level of public spending now, and I do not mean this smartly, that was almost unimaginable when the Deputy's party was in government. We are at a level of public spending now that does merit the question. It is one thing to ask people to do more with less, but it is quite another thing to ask State agencies and Departments to try to do more with more. I do not buy into the idea, and I am not saying that the Deputy does either, that every challenge in the public service can be addressed with another…

As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows, the Oireachtas must always uphold the laws within which we all operate. The legislation passed by this House in 2014 was very clear. It was to remove politicians from the investigation of complaints surrounding wrongdoing in the workplace of State agencies. This resulted in the passage and signing into law of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. The Act puts in place measures to support and protect people with concerns about actions or omissions in their workplace who wish to spea…

It nearly seems as if the Deputy is endeavouring to be the investigative body himself on the floor of Dáil Éireann. The House – it is not my decision – took a decision in 2014 that this should not be how this works. There are robust structures in place. People can and should highlight information in relation to wrongdoing in a workplace. That then has to be investigated robustly.

That is the Deputy's view and opinion-----

-----which he is perfectly entitled to have.

What he is not entitled to do, in my humble opinion, is be judge, jury and executioner, deciding everything according to what he believes to be the case. You either accept that in this country we have criminal courts, civil courts, the WRC, the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner and Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, and that they are carrying out investigations-----

-----into a number of these matters, or you do not. If the Deputy wants to introduce amendments to the legislation-----

I would be delighted to conclude. If the Deputy wants to introduce amendments to change the laws in this country in relation to the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, he should please do so. In the absence of that, the Government is committed to reviewing the full legislation and making sure it is working robustly. If there are areas where it needs to be improved, let us address them. I have full confidence that not just the Minister in question but also all other Ministers in the Government comply fully with the law …

I thank the Deputy for raising this. I am conscious that he knows a lot about this industry and machines. It is an area the Government is committed to endeavouring to assist people with because I am conscious that the energy costs are real, for everyone. They have an inflationary effect on the economy and therefore affect everyone more broadly. However, I am also conscious that, beyond that, particular sectors of the economy are particularly badly effected and they are crucial sectors, not just for the jobs they cr…

In the interest of fairness - and I appreciate the Deputy's elevation of my powers of influence - the reason energy prices have risen rapidly in this country and around the world is that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. That is not my fault. What I can do is look at the policy levers the Government can pursue and not just comment on what is going on in other parts of the world. Any objective analysis of the situation will show the Government has put in place - the Deputy can argue about the composition of the packag…

No, but I am-----

I am interested because people in Kerry need to know that, despite the way the Deputy presents things, the Government is doing a lot to help and will continue to help. It is not fair to say the packages only had an impact of this, that and the other. The package we put in place has suppressed inflation by 0.6% across the economy. That means, when people do their shopping in Kerry today, the cost of their grocery basket is 0.6% lower than it would have been if it were not for Government action. I want people to know…