Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil uafás léirithe ag muintir na hUaimhe agus léirithe ag daoine ar fud na tíre faoin ionsaigh ar an mbuachaill a bhí ceithre bliain déag d’aois agus é ag siúl abhaile ón scoil ar an Uaimh inné. Tá ár smaointe leis an ngasúr agus leis an teaghlach ag an phointe seo. Níl áit ar bith inár sochaí don chineál ionsaí seo agus don bhulaíocht den tsórt atá feicthe againn. As a parent of four boys, I, along with everybody else, was utterly disgusted and sickened to the core to see and hear about the unprovoked attack on a young child of 14 years of age as he was walking home from his school in Navan. We can only send out our thoughts and our love to that child at this point in time and hope he makes a recovery, as well as our thoughts and our love to the family as they deal with this trauma. I know that the people of Navan, and indeed people right across the country, are shocked and horrified by this incident. I know the Tánaiste will join with me in condemning this attack and, indeed, the individuals involved.

The young person involved has suffered serious physical injuries and, no doubt, psychological injuries as well. It is every parent's worst nightmare that he or she would see his or her child bullied. It is every parent's worst nightmare that this type of incident or attack would happen, and for his or her child to be physically assaulted. For so many parents, it is just unimaginable. For that matter, it is unimaginable for many parents for their children to be involved in the perpetration of this type of assault. There is no room in our society for this type of behaviour, violence or bullying. I am aware that the Garda is currently undertaking an investigation. My colleague who represents Meath West, Deputy Guirke, has called on anybody with any information to bring that forward to the Garda in order that this issue can be investigated properly and the perpetrators dealt with. I echo his call today.

It is also clear that there is a role for parents and school communities across the island to educate our young people to ensure that incidents like this never happen again and to ensure that our children are protected from all forms of bullying and violence. I urge people to heed the advice of the Garda and not to reshare this video online any further. I believe that the majority of people who have shared the content have done so not out of any malicious intent, but to express their revulsion at the heinous attack on an innocent and defenceless young child. However, we know the sharing of such content can have devastating consequences and impact on the victim, who has already suffered enough. Was it not the intent of those who took the video to actually do that? There is a disturbing rise in young people orchestrating these attacks and filming them for public online consumption. Many have warned that this is leading to a rise in violence on our streets and, indeed, in our communities. It is clear that social media companies are not doing enough to root out this violent content from their platforms. That was very clear over the last 24 hours. Is it not the case that social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that this type of content is speedily removed from their platforms?

At the start of this year, the Government appointed the State's first Online Safety Commissioner. The commissioner's role is to regulate online content to make our children safer online. The shocking incident in Navan is surely an example of the type of content that should be removed from social media platforms. If you take a cursory glance at the website this morning, it shows that the office of the commissioner has not yet devised any online codes, nor can it deal with individual complaints relating to online safety. I appreciate that the commissioner is new in the post, but I ask the Tánaiste, on behalf of everybody here who is very worried that it could be their son or daughter next, when will the office be up and running, and when will it be able to remove online content of this nature immediately?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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First, I must say that the country has been sickened and disturbed by the shocking attack on this young boy; the random violent nature of it, the videoing of it and the posting of the video online. I have not seen the video but some who did have described it as stomach-churning and quite shocking. I agree with the Deputy that there is absolutely no place in our society for such violence. More broadly, there has been increased violence against our LGBTI community, which is quite disturbing. I believe collectively, in this House and across the country, we condemn what has happened. We have to ensure that our response is multifaceted and multidisciplinary and by that I mean both within the general culture within society and, as the Deputy has said, from a parental point of view and a home-based point of view, we need to rededicate ourselves to eliminating such violence and such a culture of intimidation, bullying and violence from our society. That is constant work that we have to work on every day in every setting, including in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

There has to be a child-based response. The passing, by this House, of the hate crime Bill is one such step. From the justice perspective, some very significant work has been undertaken by the Garda over the years and more recently in terms of the youth diversion programme, and in working with young people who get involved in unacceptable behaviour and activities with a view to trying to prevent them from going down the wrong path in a significant way. There are a number of ways we have to approach this. Within education itself, the Cineáltas programme, which was launched in December 2022, is an action plan on bullying. That followed extensive consultation with the school community at large, including all members, parents, teachers and students. It is founded on a rights-based approach, rooted in four key principles, namely, prevention, support, oversight and community. It provides a very clear roadmap for the entire education community in terms of working together to prevent violent incidents such as this and bullying as a phenomenon within our society, community and schools. I think we have to focus on implementing such well-resourced strategies on a consistent basis to deal with these kind of issues. Many communities and schools are doing that, but it is quite shocking what has transpired here. That gives us an insight that notwithstanding all of the programmes, good behaviour and mentoring that is taking place in different contexts, including in youth clubs, schools and sporting clubs, this type of horrific incident still occurs.

In respect of the office of the Online Safety Commissioner, progress has been made on that. I do not have an exact timeline or date here for the Deputy today. It will have very important work to do to prevent the online violence and bullying that has become a phenomenon as well, as part and parcel of the social media world. I will endeavour to be balanced here. The companies concerned have obligations and work to remove harmful material from many of their platforms, but there has to be a faster and more rapid response to posting of such videos to have them removed.

Our thoughts today are with that young boy and with his parents and family. The well-being of all our children and young people must be uppermost in our minds. We send our support and solidarity to him and his family from this House today.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Tánaiste's words. I agree with him that much work has been done by school communities and different organisations through different programmes and that many of our schools are far more inclusive. However, that sickening attack many of us saw or heard about in Navan is a reminder to all of us that there is far more work still to be done. That trend that is happening, which we see not only on our island but on our neighbouring island, of orchestrated attacks for social media content is very real.

Many of these social media operators are headquartered here. If I was the parent of that young child, I do not know how I would be able to deal with not being able to go on social media without seeing my son being attacked in that vicious way. It is not acceptable that these companies are allowing that content still to be on that platform today.

I ask the Tánaiste to send a clear message to the social media operators that are headquartered in this State that they should be removing that content. They should not have to wait for our online commission to get up and running with the codes. They should do the decent thing to make sure, as we all need to do much more, our children are protected from further trauma in the aftermath of an attack like this.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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First, of course, it should not have to wait for the online commission, nor does it have to wait. The companies themselves should remove such videos immediately once they go up and that should be the position. We have given that message to the social media platforms on a consistent basis. Indeed, they argue that they do that but the rapidity by which they do it at times has to be questioned. The impact that can have on the individuals concerned who are the focus or the young person who has been attacked can compound the damage done to that young person and have subsequent psychological impacts. We hope that full resources will be made available to the family to enable that young person to recover from this attack. There is no argument with the Deputy's basic point, however. Such violent incidents should not be left on social media platforms for one minute longer.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I join with colleagues in condemning yesterday's brutal attack on the young child in Navan. I express my sympathy and solidarity on behalf of Labour with the family and young boy concerned. I hope he makes a speedy recovery. It was an appalling attack. We all join in sympathy with him and his family.

Yesterday, we learned that global temperatures are likely to surge to record levels in the next five years according to the World Meteorological Organization. This rise in temperature is fuelled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases that come from our continued overreliance on fossil fuels. There is a high likelihood that temperatures will rise well above the 1.5°C limit set in the Paris Agreement to which this State signed up.

We know now there is a 98% chance that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest ever recorded on this planet. Time is running out for our environment. We in Ireland - the land of rain and clouds - all too often dismiss the impact of global warming or think it will not happen to us and will not be felt here and that the effects of climate change will be felt by other people. Of course, that is not the case. The impacts will and are being felt here. In Dublin, while we are fortunate to be a stone’s throw from the sea but increasing temperatures and climate change mean that sea levels will rise and many of our seafront communities, including those in my own constituency, will be hit with destructive flooding for which we are totally unprepared.

I did not come here to fearmonger or scaremonger on climate. I came here to ask the Government to do more to address the reality of climate change because Irish emissions are continuing to soar despite the looming catastrophe. According to EUROSTAT, Ireland had the largest increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union last year. It was one of just four EU countries to increase emissions annually at a time when we are all committed to reducing emissions.

The Government has sought to make excuses and deflect from these figures, but the reality is that while other European countries like Finland took proactive steps to cut their usage of gas, for example, we did nothing. We knew this was coming but rather than invest in climate infrastructure that could see a reduced reliance on fossil fuels, the Government has been pouring taxpayers' money into paying for carbon credits at a time when we could be a leader in reducing reliance on gas through developing our great natural resource and developing our offshore wind capacity. We are lagging behind on that.

There are actions we could be taking today to begin a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We can reduce our reliance on gas, like they did in Finland, by ramping up our offshore wind generation capacity. Last week's option was a welcome step, but it is simply not enough. Second, we could introduce many more measures on reducing gas emissions from cars. A punitive tax on gas-guzzling SUVs, like that introduced in France, would be one practical step for which we in Labour have advocated, just as we advocated for a €9 euro climate ticket that would be valid on all public transport and could take thousands of cars off the roads and reduce costs for families and households while proactively reducing our emissions. I ask the Tánaiste to take up these constructive steps that would have a real impact on enabling us to meet our climate targets.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I read a summary of that report, which is very serious in terms of the short-term impacts arising from climate change and a projection over the next five years in terms of rising sea levels but also rising temperatures and, in some instances, excessive rainfall in northern Europe. The reality is that climate change is here.

Some of the big events arising out of climate change will not happen post 2050 as was the original scientific consensus a decade ago; the idea that if we do not act, terrible events will happen post 2050. The terrible events have happened all over the world in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Europe last year and will continue to happen over the next number of years.

I have no argument with the Deputy in respect of us doing everything we possibly can to ramp up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This Government is doing so through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, the Climate Change Advisory Council that has been established and the carbon budgets that have been proposed by the Government. I would argue that this is the first real, significant, comprehensive, integrated approach across different departments that has occurred for quite a considerable time building, to be fair, on the 2019 climate plan.

The Deputy is not scaremongering. We do need to continue the debate, however. That is why I welcome Deputy Bacik raising this issue. Every time the Government makes a number of moves, some sector or group will always say there is a reason why it should not happen in their sector. That happened with the carbon tax initially. I am glad we withstood all the pressure to suspend the carbon tax during the height of the energy crisis. Pressure came on us from parties not to go ahead with it but we held the line. Why? To provide money for retrofitting and funding for fuel poverty and environmentally friendly farming, as well as being a disincentive for the excessive use of fossil fuels. Adaptation is something we need to ramp up, working with local authorities across the country because of the reality of climate change in the here and now. The Deputy referenced sea levels. If I am honest, there has to be a much stronger focus on the adaptation side of the equation as well as the prevention side.

We have made progress in terms of Irish power generation and industrial companies covered by the EU emissions trading scheme, for example, which went down by 4% overall. Emissions decreased by 2% from the electricity generation sector in 2022. Industrial emissions decreased by more than 7%, with cement industry emissions decreasing by almost 9% in 2022. Aviation, on the other hand, increased dramatically by approximately 94%, which was probable a bounce back from Covid-19, compared with 2021. Ireland's economic growth has been an outlier in Europe. The economy is growing much stronger than other European countries and our population is also increasing.

Those are challenging factors in respect of our response to climate change.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We in the Labour Party have always sought to support any constructive and progressive measures on climate advanced by the Government. Equally, we are hugely critical of the fact that the Government has missed targets. There is a lack of urgency to tackle this worrying rise in emissions from Ireland. This is happening at a time of record budget surpluses. The Government has a unique opportunity to invest that money in housing infrastructure, for sure, but also in climate infrastructure. Instead, there has been a lack of urgency and a delay. As I said, the auction for offshore wind last week, the first of its kind, was welcome. However, it is disappointing to see delays in the roll-out of floating terminal wind generation capacity. The future of offshore wind lies in being able to develop both floating and fixed platforms and yet we are seeing no urgency from Government. This is a time when we should be seeing massive investment by the Government in the development of public transport infrastructure, cycling and active infrastructure. During National Bike Week, there should have been a big announcement on such infrastructure. We are not seeing that investment. I appeal to the Tánaiste to take up the constructive proposals we are putting forward that would enable us to meet our climate targets and would tackle this worrying rise in emissions.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the Deputy's criticisms but we must be fair that the offshore wind auction was a significant milestone-----

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It absolutely was.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----in the drive towards offshore wind energy in this country. The 5 GW target is now in sight. I would argue that people could not see that target a year ago. The auction gives us concrete sight of that target. It will be challenging because we must get the ports ready. They are coming back with their business plans and so forth. The infrastructure and grid pieces require attention. However, the jigsaw is coming together for offshore wind. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, is up and running and essentially, a new CEO has been appointed. All these initiatives have occurred in the past two years.

Active travel across the country has been transformed. The funding that has been allocated to active travel initiatives by this Government over the past two and a half years is unprecedented. It is having an impact. I was recently at the opening of a greenway by Páirc Uí Chaoimh, for example. Roscommon might be down there at some stage, Deputy Naughten.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Is the greenway to get people in quickly or to get them out quickly?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are plenty of opportunities for picnics and everything else. In the local community, you can get the sense of the transformation that is occurring. There are some very exciting projects in every town and city across the country on active travel. I make that basic point.

On industry, I visited the PepsiCo facility last week. Some 25% of the its annual energy needs will from now on be met by the largest solar panel roof installation. Industry is also moving at pace.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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On my own behalf and that of the Regional Group, I echo the condemnation of the attack on the young man that took place in County Meath. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Deputies were yesterday told of the perverse situation whereby doctors are sitting in front of computers and inputting numbers instead of providing vital care to patients with rare diseases. That is, sadly, a practice that is far too common within our health services. While most rare diseases appear early in life, with about 30% of children affected not reaching their fifth birthday, many are not diagnosed until adulthood. Despite the phrase, rare diseases are not rare. In Ireland, about one in 12 people are, or at some stage in their lives will be, affected by such a condition. This means that approximately 825,000 Irish people are impacted by a rare disease when family members, many of whom are carers, are included. The west and north-west of Ireland have one of the highest incidence rates in Europe.

Even when patients get a diagnosis, up to one third of people living with rare diseases have indicated they do not have access to expert medical care here in Ireland. The expertise does not exist in Ireland for many of these conditions because of the rarity of the disease. To overcome this, the EU cross-border directive mandated the establishment of European reference networks, ERNs, to link rare disease clinical expertise across the EU. The main goal is to bring that expertise to patients in their home countries rather than requiring them to travel abroad. Twenty-four reference networks for a broad range of rare diseases have been established at EU level and, to date, Ireland has a clinical lead representative in 18 of those. We must constantly update patients' medical records on this EU network or else Irish patients' access to the most up-to-date medical care for their condition will be withdrawn. Sadly, there are still patients who cannot access this expert care because their medical information still needs to be uploaded onto this vital EU-wide network. It also leaves Irish patients, whose conditions are covered by the six EU rare disease networks in which Ireland is not participating, excluded from accessing the best available medical care.

To address this, we need a health data system and staff who can upload patient information onto the EU reporting and audit network, thus ensuring Ireland's membership can be maintained and built upon to benefit all patients with rare diseases, regardless of which hospital they attend in this country. I am asking that we stop pulling consultants away from treating the patients with some of the rarest medical conditions in the world to sit in front of a computer filling out online forms and instead employ skilled administrative staff to do this on an integrated patient data system across our health service, saving time, money and, most importantly, people's lives.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which has been an issue of interest to me for quite some time. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan of Fianna Fáil has also been a strong advocate in this area. I welcome the participation by Ireland in 18 of the 24 ERNs. By definition, rare diseases have never been amenable to pharmaceutical investment, or the State could never invest in treatment or medicines, because the volume involved would never be sufficient to match the investment required for research into the treatment for such conditions. There is a multiplicity of rare conditions. The ERN is an excellent idea. It allows the pooling together of expertise and knowledge to bring to the patient as quickly as possible. The issue now is to adequately fund our participation in these ERNs. I have spoken with the Minister for Health about this and it is my view that the Government needs to respond to the Estimates bid that has been made. There is a bid in for approximately 37 whole-time equivalents across five ERN leading sites. We must begin to build up capacity. The Deputy has made a coherent case and we have to move on this because it is a practical way to give real opportunities. The journey for patients can be quite shocking and long, involving multiple trips to different clinicians. Patients may originally think their issues are respiratory or whatever else, so there can be a long journey before patients and their families land on a person who knows the issue and who knows what he or she is talking about. The reference network offers enormous potential. We need to resource our participation, and I take that point. As I said, I have spoken to the Minister about the issue.

Parallel to that, the Horizon Europe programme has commissioned significant research into treatments for rare diseases, which is also vital. In some instances, the market is not going to come up with the answers and collectively, the European state, or rather, the European Union - do not all panic - collectively should come together and give significant funding through the Horizon Europe research programme to respond to significant rare conditions. We have, for example, long sought co-operation with the United States and other countries to focus on research around cystic fibrosis, which is a particular condition in Ireland but is globally rare. That is a good illustration of the approach we require from a research point of view and from the network point of view.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his response. Our lack of an integrated medical data system, and the staffing to manage it, denies patients with rare diseases in Ireland access to the best possible and most cost-effective medical care in the world today.

This failure to develop and staff a proper medical data system will also exclude Irish people from fully utilising the new EU health data space which is being designed to provide patients with access to new and innovative treatments for cancer and other common diseases that cannot be cured today. Why should Irish patients be denied access to life-saving treatments because the computer in one hospital cannot talk to the other or that the computer in Ireland cannot talk to the computer in Germany or France? We are a global digital leader. Let us ensure that our health service plays its part to benefit all of our patients.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In respect of treatment, the Government has substantially increased funding for new innovative medicines for rare diseases, investing €100 million over the last three budgets. More than 100 new medicines have been approved, including 39 orphan medicines to treat rare diseases. We also committed €2.7 million to support the implementation of the national strategy for accelerating genetics and genomic medicine in Ireland. As I stated earlier, we progressed Irish entry into the Horizon Europe partnerships on rare diseases and personalised medicine. As I said, both those tracks - research and participation in the networks - are key, as is the implementation of the strategy on accelerating genetics and genomic medicine. A new national office of genetics and genomics and the appointment of key staff will all be provided for with a national director for genetics and genomics, a bioinformatics laboratory, a director, two clinical genetic consultants and six genetic counsellors. That has been welcomed by the rare disease community in Ireland and will be of benefit to many people living with a rare disease but I take the point that the networks need to be resourced as well.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Mattie McGrath on behalf of the Rural Independent Group.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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At the outset, I would like to express, on my own behalf and on the Rural Independent Group's behalf, our abhorrence of the incident that happened in Navan a couple of days ago. It is truly shocking. I have not seen the video but, from what I have heard, it is appalling. Every right-thinking person must condemn it.

The Government has failed the Irish people by allowing the European Central Bank, ECB, to push continuously for interest rate hikes, despite the dire consequences for Irish borrowers. Today, I want to question the passive stance of the Government in allowing the ECB to push up interest rates from zero to 3.75%, the most severe monetary austerity measures since the ECB was founded 25 years ago.

The Government has remained silent on this monetary policy position, despite the fact that it is driving many Irish households to the brink of financial ruin. First, the ECB interest rate hikes represent nothing short of austerity policies, are disproportionate and, indeed, ineffective, and have done nothing to lower inflation. Second, the issue is causing severe financial pain and anxiety in every household, particularly for mortgage holders and borrowers. We hear a lot about middle Ireland, but this is where this is impacting. These interest rate hikes are devastating the Irish economy and posing a significant threat to the livelihoods of citizens.

Countless homeowners now face the risk of eviction due to the astronomical costs of mortgage repayments. The ongoing policy of trying to combat inflation through interest rate hikes is like trying to crack a chestnut with a sledgehammer. It is ridiculous. It severely impacts on all Irish borrowers, exacerbating the inflationary spiral.

The Government's failure to act or even question the ECB's persistent interest rate hikes now poses a grave threat to the Irish economy. This reckless monetary policy is driving up borrowing costs for small businesses, farmers and homeowners in Tipperary and across the country, while failing to curb effectively or have any impact on inflation.

The most vulnerable group affected by these interest rate hikes are the 712,000 plus homeowners and 76,304 buy-to-let mortgage holders, accounting for a staggering €100 billion plus in outstanding loans. Among them, tracker-mortgage customers and interest-only customers are particularly vulnerable.

With every 1% increase in ECB interest rates, borrowers in Ireland face an additional burden of approximately €52 per month for every €100,000 borrowed. This places immense strain on borrowers, especially those with large outstanding loans. For example, one of my constituents in Tipperary, who is part of the most vulnerable group of borrowers with an average balance of €225,000 and 19 years remaining, will have extra repayments, in addition to the monthly repayment of €951, driving it up by over €6,000 a year. This is simply unsustainable and Government will have to act.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the European Central Bank, there is a common currency and we have joined that. We are members of the European Central Bank in so far as every state nominates a representative. Of course, he or she does not act as an Irish representative and must act in the collective in the context of the European Central Bank itself.

In terms of monetary policy, they have to control inflation. Inflation has to be controlled. Unfortunately, interest rate increases have always been a mechanism of monetary policy to reduce a rampant inflation rate, which people have articulated concerns about in this House for the past nine months and has necessitated unprecedented Government intervention in terms of cost-of-living packages and budgetary packages to reduce the cost of public services, to reduce taxation and to provide increased social protection payments to many people. We have done that in the context of a very significant €12 billion intervention over the past 12 months by the Government to alleviate pressures on people because interest rates create pressures on people, particular, as the Deputy has identified, on the mortgage front.

In the context of the forthcoming budget, we will do what we can again to alleviate pressures on people in respect of the broader costs that they have. In healthcare alone, for example, we have brought down the drugs payment scheme, DPS, threshold. The threshold was €124 before we came into government; it is now €80. Paediatric inpatient charges have been eliminated, examination fees waived and adult patient charges eliminated. There are free primary school book schemes for September. There will be a €100 child benefit one-off payment in June. We had the fourth energy support provided to people last month. There has been a steady consistent almost monthly intervention by Government to try and alleviate the pressures on people right across the board.

On the mortgage front, the Minister for Finance and senior officials met with providers, particularly in the non-bank sector, to discuss mortgage interest rates. The Minister raised concerns about the impact of those rate rises on borrowers and the potential this may have in terms increasing mortgage arrears.

The Minister had emphasised that it is a priority of Government to reduce mortgage arrears and he has raised it with the Central Bank as well. The Minister wrote to the Central Bank in the context of the review of the consumer protection code to underline the importance of customers with performing mortgages being supported and facilitated to switch to avail of lower mortgage interest rates. We will continue to keep this matter under review.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It is clear that the Tánaiste is trying to distance himself and the Government from the ECB and its policies because it suits him. However, it must be noted that last year, the Government rolled out the red carpet for the ECB President, Ms Christine Lagarde, during her visit to Government Buildings. This presented a prime opportunity for the Government and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on behalf of the people, to question this policy. The Government has not raised this issue publicly or in any other forum which is a failure to protect the interests of all borrowers, especially the domestic side of the economy. Small businesses, farmers, fishermen, tourism and the hospitality sector all are affected by this. It is a major issue.

How can any Irish Government stand idly by and allow the unelected cabal of the ECB to cause so much pain and suffering in this country? We had it already, in 2008, with the forced so-called "bailout". The cleanout and the pressure and blackguarding that the European banks and funds did to this country was supported by the Tánaiste.

The Government must act. I will not deny that these little frills help, but the elephant in the room is the interest rates and the failure of the hikes to bring down inflation. It is not happening.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's proposals would create chaos.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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We have chaos.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There would be chaos if every Government in Europe were to take on and disagree with the ECB. We need monetary policies to be set by the ECB.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Best boys in the class.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is the way it should be. We need to get inflation down. Ireland has an unemployment rate of less than 4%. We have the lowest youth unemployment in Europe. We have dramatically increased employment in the past three years. There must be a balanced, measured and stable approach to managing the economy. Some countries outside the EU have inflation rates of up to 50% or 60%. When a country reaches that disastrous level, it is in real trouble. Getting inflation down matters and it matters to citizens. A balance must be struck in measures to curb inflation. It is working, albeit more slowly than anticipated due to the war in Ukraine, which has caused huge problems with inflation, as has the response to Covid-19 and to coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have to get inflation down because it will kill the citizen more than anything else, metaphorically speaking.