Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I will start by acknowledging the deeply upsetting incident that took place in a Tusla facility in Donaghmede yesterday. This is a shocking event. My thoughts and those of people right across the House and country are with all of those impacted by it, in particular the bereaved family and those injured. The loss of life is unconscionable. The focus must now be on the welfare and safety of the young people and staff at the facility. Tusla is working to put additional supports in place to do that. I also want to acknowledge the staff and members of An Garda Síochána who arrived at the scene yesterday. There is obviously an ongoing Garda investigation, but this is a horrific and deeply saddening incident which I wanted to acknowledge here.

I thank Deputy O'Farrell for the question. I hope she tells those people she meets across the country that only one party in Dáil Éireann proposed giving subsidies to the energy companies. It was not Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, the Independents or anybody else here. The response of Sinn Féin in the last Dáil, its solution to the energy price situation, was to give taxpayers' money over to the energy companies.

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