Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The rules today are the same as always. All contributions should be through the Chair and all Members should receive a fair hearing without interruption. Under Standing Order 38, I call Deputy Pearse Doherty.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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An tseachtain seo, den dara huair ó mhí an Mhárta, d'impigh an Coimisiún Eorpach ar bhallstáit céimeanna a chur i bhfeidhm chun an brú ó phraghsanna leictreachais a laghdú. Tá an Rialtas go fóill ag diúltú rud ar bith a dhéanamh chun cuidiú le gnáthdhaoine atá thíos le billí leictreachais iontach mór. Le bheith fírinneach faoi, tá an Rialtas ag déanamh rudaí níos measa tríd an gcreidmheas fuinnimh a bhaint díreach nuair a bhí siad ag teastáil ó dhaoine go mór. Beidh daoine anois ag cur na ceiste simplí seo, má tá an Coimisiún Eorpach ag impí ar an Rialtas gníomhú, cén fáth go bhfuil sé go fóill ag déanamh rud ar bith? This week, for the second time since March, the European Commission has urged member states to come up with measures to ease the burden of electricity prices. This morning, people are asking a very simple question: if the Government has been told to act, why is it still standing back?

The reality for families is stark. Electricity bills are rising again, heating costs are through the roof, grocery prices are up week after week and households are being pushed to the pin of their collar just to get by. Here is the reality behind all those bills. The Irish Independent today spoke to an 85-year-old man from Balbriggan. He has been working for 71 years and still cannot afford to retire. He works 15 hours a week just to keep his head above water. He sees it plainly. The State pension is not enough to live on. After a lifetime of work, he is still paying for heat, food and insurance, with the cost of everything rising. He knows that if he stops working, he will not be able to pay his bills. The newspaper also spoke to another man. He is a farmer from Cork in his 70s. He gets up every morning at 6 a.m. to go to work, every single day, not out of choice but because costs have spiralled far beyond what the pension can cover. The cost of heating is up, fuel costs have doubled and the price of everything is climbing up and up. This is not how people imagined their later years. After a lifetime of contribution, they should not be worrying about whether they can afford to heat their homes, but that is the human reality of this crisis.

What did the Government do at the very moment people needed supports? It took them away. Energy credits are gone, scrapped just when the pressure was intensifying and just as households were already at breaking point. That decision is indefensible because, at the very same time, we see this week that the Government's economic spring forecast shows the money is there. The reality is that a fraction of the surpluses would make a real difference in ordinary people's lives. The Government has more than enough to act, more than enough to support households and more than enough to give people a real break. This is not about money but about political choices. The Government is choosing not to act. It is choosing to leave families exposed. It is choosing to let bills rise. It is choosing to tell people to wait - wait for the budget, wait until next year and wait while the crisis deepens. People cannot wait because the crisis is here, right now. The bills are landing right now. The pressure on families is right now. These families need relief immediately.

Does the Tánaiste accept that his Government got it wrong when it scrapped the energy credits that were so obviously needed? Will the Government now act to reintroduce those supports and bring forward an urgent cost-of-living package or will it continue to sit on billions of euro in surpluses while workers, families, pensioners and so many others across the State are pushed to the brink?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Of course, the Government did not wait. It brought forward, objectively, one of the largest packages of supports in the European Union to assist our citizens. It is either the largest or second largest package in the European Union, depending on how you look at it, and it is around two and a half times larger than the average package in the European Union. While I welcome the European Commission's high-level proposals of yesterday as an important contribution to this discussion, we in Ireland, in this Oireachtas and in the Government, did not wait for the European Commission to come up with a list of ideas.

To the Deputy's question, I welcome the high-level proposals published yesterday. They are being discussed today and tomorrow at a meeting of the European Council in Cyprus, where our Taoiseach will represent the country. I hope that meeting provides an opportunity to put a bit of meat on the bones of further areas where the European Union can bring forward opportunities to act. I welcome that the proposals yesterday referenced the ability of countries to go beyond the energy tax directive. The Deputy will remember that I brought a financial resolution into this House in which we went beyond the energy tax directive on diesel. On that occasion, we did so more to get ready to ask for forgiveness than permission. I welcome the recognition from the European Commission that it needs to give member states flexibility in relation to that.

I also note that the Commission's proposals say that measures should be targeted income measures. That is why we extended the fuel allowance. I welcome that the Commission said measures should be temporary because I think we have to stay agile and flexible during this crisis. It is hard to predict where the global economy will be in six weeks, let alone in six months. That is why our current measures run to the end of July. The Commission says that taking action on excise duty is an option, which is why we have cut the excise duty on diesel by 32 cent and on petrol by 27 cent. Between the green diesel excise duty cut and the support scheme, the cut for a litre of green diesel is 27.5 cent.

The Deputy is right that the Commission said there are options that can be considered in relation to electricity. I note it said it will soon adopt a legal proposal in relation to this, and Ireland will constructively engage on that. There is an interesting question, quite frankly, as to what more we can do around the structural cost of electricity. To give the Deputy an example, and I read the same article today as he did, we want to invest a lot more in upgrading our grid. We want to make sure more electricity is produced from renewables. The question of how much of that will come on to the household bill versus how much of it will come from the resources of the State is an important and legitimate debate. We are already planning on spending €18 billion on upgrading the grid. Is there more that can be done in that space? We will work constructively at a European level in this regard. We have already acted on the VAT rate on electricity. The Deputy will remember that we took the decision to extend the lowest rate of VAT that we can levy on electricity. That 9% rate has been in place since 2022, but it has constantly been rolled over. We took a decision early on to provide certainty that the rate would be in place until 2030. That measure has already come at a cost of about €1 billion.

We do not rule out taking further actions - no Government can - but an energy crisis in the summer months is very different from the challenges that people could face in the winter months. We have to make sure that we intervene, as we did with the largest or second largest package in the European Union, but also that we have an ability to intervene further. As the Deputy and all of us know in the context of this crisis, no matter what happens in Iran, the damage done now to the energy infrastructure means it will take a significant time to repair. Therefore, we have to be agile.

On the Deputy's point on the surplus, I am very pleased that there is a surplus. It did not come about by accident and did not fall from the sky. The sensible, pro-enterprise policies that this country has implemented mean that we have a fiscal buffer built up. The surplus is not just sitting idle. It is going into infrastructure and climate adaptation, through those funds, and into the Future Ireland Fund to meet, for example, pension requirements. It provides us with options.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste is still not listening. He is trying to spin it, and he can try to spin it whatever way he wants, but people, in their real, lived experiences, know where they are at. They see prices going up. They see the prices of electricity, fuel, home heating oil and groceries going up. They see all of that. They see a Government that is talking about surpluses - billions of euro more than were expected - and refusing to act.

The Government does not need the European Commission’s approval to introduce energy credits. It withdrew those energy credits in the height of winter. We told the Tánaiste what would happen. What happened Simon? Never have we seen more people in the history of this State who cannot pay their electricity bills. On top of that, we have fuel prices and groceries increasing and rents, insurance and student fees going up. It is never ending on families. I am telling the Tánaiste, what the Government needs to do is act now. It needs to bring forward an emergency cost-of-living package that supports families in the here and now. People cannot wait for the Government to get its act together in the budget in October for measures to be implemented in January. People’s bills are rising now. They are looking for help and leadership and the Government is continuing to give them the deaf ear.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Truthfully, it is quite the opposite. We have already brought forward a package of €750 million. That is the opposite of refusing to act; it is acting. It is concrete, meaningful action and people see it at the pump. They know that the diesel price is lower than it was before. It is still too high but people know it is lower. They know the petrol price is lower than it was. Hauliers and their representative body have welcomed the package. Farmers and their representative body have welcomed the package. We continue to work and engage with many stakeholders including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, IBEC, and many others. The Deputy should also acknowledge that never before in the history of the State have more people been in receipt of a fuel allowance. We made a decision to expand it to 50,000 more low-income, working families.

Here is the difference between being in government and opposition; we cannot come in here every Thursday and effectively propose we do another budget. I want to make sure we have options at budget time. We already took a very significant intervention and stand ready to take further interventions. However, we will not have the options we require as a country if we try and have a budget every Thursday.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Hundreds of thousands of working families have been left asking why they have been left behind by this Government. They are left wondering what it will take for the Government to act to help them. Which piece of road or which port should they blockade before the Government takes notice? Over the past six months, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents made deliberate decisions which left those workers behind and worse off. It decided on plain silly VAT cuts for fast food firms, paid for by PAYE workers, because it chose not to index income tax bands and credits. Only now does Fianna Fáil appear to have a problem with that stroke.

The Government made a decision to withdraw critical, once-off payments and energy credits. For three years families relied on a couple of hundred euro to ease the burden of Europe’s highest electricity prices. The Government left them at a loss with less money in their pockets. They are now getting bills for €300, €400 or €500 at a time. That decision is now coming back to haunt the Tánaiste and his colleagues.

The Iran war will nearly double inflation this year. Construction and food prices will rise further, making a complete mockery of the Government’s VAT-cut misadventure. Grocery prices were already increasing at over 6% and electricity prices will rise even more, adding €150 to average bills which were already sky-high. Before Easter, the Tánaiste and other members of the Government were talking about tax cuts for the richest in our society on inheritance and for special investment accounts. Quite frankly, that was tone deaf. That consideration once again ignored the needs of many who are struggling to pay their bills. Now it seems the Government has realised finally realised the error of its ways.

In the past week, the Government has flown many budget kites, including income tax cuts, energy credits and increased retrofit grants; you name it. Why do PAYE workers have to wait more than six months for relief when protesters only had to wait for a week? Those sectors did need some support but why are the needs of the real drivers of the economy being blanked by the Government? Yesterday, the Commission laid out the measures the Government can take to address the impact of the energy crisis. There are many policy options available to the Government in this toolbox such as a windfall tax on energy profits, price controls, energy vouchers, social tariffs and income support schemes for households.

People know there is a massive surplus. Why? Because the Government keeps telling us. They also know we cannot spend it all at once and that services need to be paid for. People saw that the Government very quickly found €750 million over the past month for sectoral interests. They need help now and there are ways for the Government to responsibly do a mini-budget now to provide real relief for PAYE workers. It could reverse the VAT cuts, introduce a windfall tax on energy companies and use the money for targeted energy credits of €400 for average income households. It could introduce the income tax indexation it promised during the general election but abandoned last October, and offer real supports for families with grocery bills and school costs. It can use existing laws to place maximum-price orders on home heating oil. Will the Tánaiste now move to help working people through a mini budget?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We will not be bringing forward a mini budget but we did introduce a €750 million package, the second largest in the European Union and two and a half times the European average, less than two weeks ago. I take some of the points the Deputy made on sectoral interests versus everybody. There is something in that. However, I will make two points regarding that. First, there are some sectors where it simply makes sense when there is a fuel crisis to prioritise an intervention. We are not all the same in terms of our fuel consumption. A haulier or a farm contractor has a very significant fuel bill. It made sense for all of us to keep our supply chains in certain crucial sectors of the Irish economy going. I do not think the Deputy and I disagree on that; he has acknowledged some sectors need help. Beyond that, I make the point that the package we brought forward is one everybody benefits from. I will explain why. The chief economist in the Department of Finance has estimated, and he said this on the day we published the spring forecast, that whatever inflation ends up being - we all want to suppress any increase - will be approximately 0.6% lower each of the months of May, June and July then it would otherwise have been. That person the Deputy quite rightly mentioned, and we all know them, who is in the supermarket and worried about the cost of food going up - by keeping inflation down through the package, we are having a positive impact on what that supermarket bill would have been otherwise.

On VAT 9%, and the Deputy got a lot of mileage since the previous budget out of the old burger baron cut, I want to ask him about it. I was in the Deputy's constituency this week. I doubt when he goes into his local café in Drogheda, and we all have a local café in our community, he looks at the man or woman behind the counter and says good afternoon to Mr. or Mrs baron because he knows in his heart of hearts, as a former Minister in the Department of enterprise, that the overwhelming majority of hospitality businesses are small businesses. He knows they are the heartbeat of rural and regional Ireland and they employ four, five or ten people. He knows that whatever the merits or demerits, and I accept we have a full policy difference, of our position on the budget, it is more essential we reduce their cost base. What would the Deputy be saying to me if we had not done anything to support the hospitality sector in the budget? A sector that employs well over 140,000 people directly needs our support. I am not flying any kites but when I am asked a question I try to answer it. I was asked whether there will be a personal income tax package in the budget; yes, there will.

I want to make another point as the Deputy has raised this with me many times. The country we saw in recent weeks regarding blockades is not who we are. We all know we are better than that as a people. People are angry and frustrated and there are real issues; I get that. However, we have to have really good structures for engagement in place with democratically constituted national bodies. We had a very good meeting in the past week of the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, with the ICTU, and others. It made points not too dissimilar to the Deputy’s. There is a need to intensify that engagement in the weeks ahead.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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There are other and better ways of targeting supports to businesses which may need them, not a blanket VAT cut that is going to disproportionately benefit the burger barons like Ronald McDonald and his friends. That is a very poor use of taxpayer money and is being paid for directly by PAYE workers. That is the reality. The Tánaiste is now trying to retroactively justify that by the increased energy costs that businesses will be experiencing. I simply do not buy that. The Tánaiste is going to have to explain, with great difficulty, to workers who are going to continue to find it very difficult to pay their bills this summer when the VAT cut is introduced in July, why he is continuing to justify that. Lobbyists do a great job for the hospitality business. They did a number on the Tánaiste. Hauliers did a great job in terms of how they acted. They got the Tánaiste to respond. They have done the business for the people they represent. It is about time now the Tánaiste and his Fianna Fáil and Independent colleagues did the business for working people.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We will not get into it but the Deputy knows Ronald McDonald does not own the McDonald's in Bray. He knows there are franchises in relation to many of these places. It is important to point that out.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Whether it is a franchise or a small independent business, there are hardworking, decent people running these places too. They employ PAYE workers too. I will stand in any of these cafés, restaurants or rural pubs that serve food and say to people that the reduction we have brought about from July on VAT is a reduction in the cost base of that business. At a time of real pressure, reducing costs on business is good. We can disagree on that point and agree on a broader point. There is a need to have broader engagement with wider society and representative groups on how we get ourselves through this moment of challenge. I found, and I certainly do not mean they were not tough on us or that they agree with us on everything, that the engagement we had with ICTU, IBEC and members of the LEEF to be very good.

What we need to do is have a much more intensive process now to engage with workers, their representatives and business representative bodies in the weeks ahead.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I notice the Tánaiste has been spending a bit of time in Dublin city over the past few weeks-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Cannot mention that.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I have to ask: does he feel any shame for what Fine Gael’s time in government has done to our capital city? I know that is a difficult charge but I want to illustrate the point so I will talk about just one street in central Dublin. That street is Gardiner Street. I am not sure if the Tánaiste is familiar with Gardiner Street but it is just one street over from the GPO where a mere 18 months ago, he stood and made a pre-election commitment to the people of Dublin. Does he remember that commitment? While launching the long-awaited report of the Dublin city centre task force, he said of our capital city:

It deserves a brighter future. It deserves dedicated resources, and it deserves a vision. We now have it.

That was the promise. One street over from where he made it Gardiner Street embodies the failure. One tenth of the homeless population of Ireland are being warehoused in emergency accommodation on Gardiner Street. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive has contracted 20 properties on this one street, all but one of which are privately operated. That is 1,700 emergency accommodation beds on barely a half kilometre stretch of road. Yes, I also wince at the use of the word “warehoused” but I know personally the lived experiences of families trapped in this reality and to call it anything else would be an insult to their experience.

Eoin Murphy is the principal of Gardiner Street Primary School where 20% of the children are living in emergency homeless accommodation. He recently told RTÉ’s “Prime Time”:

Students’ basic needs aren't being met a lot of the time because they might be up late at night. They might not have good washing facilities or cooking facilities, nowhere to play or do their homework. If your basic needs aren't being met it's very hard to learn.

What is happening on Gardiner Street is a blight on this republic but there is another fact I want the Tánaiste to hold in his head if he visits central Dublin over the next few weeks. Using all available data sources, a north city centre residents alliance has concluded there are 7,000 people living in homeless accommodation in the north inner city. I do not have time to talk about the level of complex needs that are being unmet in this cohort but it is devastating to the lives of those trapped in the broken system and to the communities trying to pick up the pieces of Government failure. But there is an even crueller juxtaposition operating in tandem. The average monthly rent in Dublin city is €2,700 a month. Rents are 80% higher than they were a decade ago? How many affordable purchase homes were delivered across the entirety of Dublin City Council’s boundaries last year? Zero. There was not a single one.

Eighteen months ago, the Tánaiste stood at the GPO and talked of a vision for Dublin city. It is hard not to see the culmination of that vision as a city that is too expensive for the vast majority of Dubliners to ever live in and the creation of a system of impoverishment that is inescapable for those caught in the failed policies of the Government. Therefore, I will ask again: is this the vision of Dublin city that the Tánaiste has in mind? What is the plan to remove us from this and improve the capital city for the people who live here and the people who are caught in the oppression created by failed Government policy?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I remember very well standing at the GPO for what was a very important moment for Dublin with the launch of the Dublin city task force report. I say that because it was a report that had nothing to do with me. I decided that we should have a task force for Dublin but the report is the culmination of an incredible body of work done by many people, including many Members, many people across the political divide, all of the agencies, the city council and its excellent chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, and many other bodies, among them the HSE, An Garda Síochána and business groups, which fed into the vision. I know the Deputy knows that too but I wanted to say that. That was the outworking of that. Since then, we have seen real progress in the implementation of the report. I believe Dublin City Council is this week progressing the establishment of the special purpose vehicle, SPV. The Deputy will be aware of the appointment the Government has made of someone to head that up and drive that in the person of Robert Watt; that Dublin City Council has allocated staff with the technical skills to a programme management unit to drive delivery and it is now working on an integrated area strategy; the changes we made to the living city initiative to make sure more buildings in Dublin, including in his constituency, can qualify for reliefs to bring them back into use as homes, including above the shop, and removing any restriction in relation to that; and the very significant money we have provided through the various renewal funds around Parnell Square culture quarter, the fruit and vegetable market and the plans in relation to the GPO as well. Now we have that SPV to drive delivery too. I am proud, quite frankly, of the vision of the Dublin city centre task force. I think people far away from Dublin can take an interest in this too because we all want to see a capital city that is vibrant and thriving but that does not take away from the point the Deputy made because that point is very valid. Homelessness in our country, but also in our capital city, is still far too high. In certain parts of our country, there is a particularly high number of people as well; I do not like to use the word “concentration”. We know while homelessness is a national problem, it is a problem that disproportionately impacts Dublin. That is why we are providing more funding for the Dublin homeless region and have provided funding of around €400 million in 2026; why we have provided local authorities with statutory discretion around HAP payments above the prescribed maximum rent limit; and why we recently met as a Government with Dublin City Council, its director of housing and its chief executive – that is myself, the Taoiseach, the Minister for housing and the Minister of State with responsibility for housing - to see what more can be done in relation to faster delivery of social housing. I accept it is an area in which we have a huge amount more work to do but both pieces of work are important. Driving implementation of the Dublin city centre task force is key while also, obviously, tackling the homeless emergency in the country.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The Tánaiste mentioned real progress has been made by the Dublin city task force. If I capture a bit of the timeline, I will show the fallacy of that statement. The Tánaiste first announced the establishment of the city centre task force in May 2023. That was commissioned later that year. Nothing happened in between the delivery of the report by David McRedmond which came 18 months ago. It sat on the Tánaiste’s desk for four months before that. In the 18 months sinc,e the Tánaiste has talked about an SPV that is undefined and unbudgeted and the announcement of a Civil Service representative. Dublin City Council has been asking for €114 million just so it can give body and finance to some of the initiatives the Tánaiste has talked about. For example, the last time I checked the living city initiative, there had been about 30 applications for it over many years and I would be surprised if it had reached 40 now. We need a vision for the city which, exactly as the Tánaiste said, is resourced and understands the oppression of the people who are being left behind in our city and understanding that people cannot afford to live in their city. We do not need more reports and years; we need action now.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It was May 2024. I became Taoiseach in April 2024 so it was May 2024 that we announced the plan to put this in place. Now, in 2026, we are already seeing delivery on that. The Deputy is actually right about the living city initiative. There was a rigidity around the living city initiative that, quite frankly, was making it too hard for people to benefit from. That is why we made a number of changes to it. I genuinely hope we see the benefits of that, most particularly to the changes relating to above-the-shop development. There has been some funding, though, through the urban regeneration fund already. I welcome the support of the Deputy’s party, I think, and most parties in this House in terms of other ways we can look at Dublin City Council having potentially ring-fenced funding whether that is a tourism levy or the likes - I am very eager to explore that – on the understanding that the funding goes directly into issues in Dublin city. We have seen other areas. The Minister for justice is present. We have seen a real focus on and progress in Garda numbers in the city and that has been widely acknowledged by people when I visit the Deputy’s constituency as well.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The Tánaiste promised 1,000.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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A memo is due to go to the Government around the next two weeks specifically on the next steps for the GPO.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Last night, “RTÉ Investigates” broadcast a shocking report on Tusla and children in State care. This is something we in Aontú have been raising solidly for the past five years. The report was obscene. Young children are being taken from very difficult backgrounds from their parents and being placed into special emergency arrangements. These are often unregulated, often with staff who are unvetted and some of those staff do not even have references. Children are being located in apartments and hotel rooms and are being moved around on a regular basis. In short spaces of time, a child could be in 20 separate locations. Children are sleeping in car parks and sleeping in broken-down cars. They are being groomed by crack cocaine dealers. Children are being sexually abused while in the care of Tusla. Children are being raped in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla. This was reported last night.

We have uncovered a harrowing case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from Tusla just 24 hours after she was placed there. The child was missing for an entire year. She was then found in a brothel. She was a victim of unimaginable exploitation when she was supposedly in the Government’s protection. The Minister has refused in a follow-up question by ourselves to answer if anyone has ever been prosecuted for the trafficking and exploitation of that child. Children are being killed in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla.

Two hundred and thirty-five children known to child protection services have been killed in the last 12 years. There have been 13 homicides, 38 deaths as a result of suicide, and, in another parliamentary question from us, we learned that eight children were killed so far this year who were known to Tusla or in the care of Tusla. Mr. Justice John Jordan said that some of these failures are outrageous and an affront to the rule of law. He warned that Tusla is extraordinarily exposed to significant future compensation claims as a result of the harm that is being done to these children. Judge John Campbell stated that he was incandescent with rage that a secure bed could not be found for a child deemed at risk of death. He noted that children who should be getting ready for Santa Claus were being placed in unregulated placements. Judge Simms provided three important documents to the last Minister for children, Roderic O'Gorman, which were shredded. I believe this is one of the most disgusting, shocking scandals that has happened to children in the history of this State. When I first raised this in the Dáil four or five years ago, it was so horrendous that I was sure that the Government would put an end to these special emergency arrangements. It has not. It is actually getting worse. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment today and a date for when the Government will end the special emergency arrangements in this country?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising last night's programme. It is a programme which has been extraordinarily difficult for people across the country to watch. First and foremost, I thank the young people who came forward and shared their experience of the care system. It takes a lot of courage and bravery to do so and to do so in such a public manner. I commend "RTÉ Investigates" on the work it did on this. It highlighted a number of very challenging cases and indeed upsetting cases about vulnerable children who the State should support and protect. Of that, there is no doubt. Listening to some of the negative experiences, although frankly that phrase does not capture it, so I should say listening to some of the horrors that some very vulnerable children have endured while entrusted to the care of our State raises significant questions.

Many fine people are working in Tusla. I do not think the Deputy is taking from that fact. They are working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances and often with very complex cases. I acknowledge them because they are doing good work, which is important to say.

On the specific issue the Deputy raised about the use of special emergency arrangements, this is effectively where the State becomes reliant on a private operator to provide accommodation in an emergency situation. It is good to see that the reliance on that is being reduced, although it is still too high. I think it has been reduced from around 170 children in special emergency arrangements last year to 70 but Tusla is now working to reduce that further in the coming months. I spoke to the chief executive officer of Tusla this morning and I understand that there are around 69 of these centres. Nineteen of those centres are due to be registered from 1 May. There is a further plan regarding another 19 of them too. I genuinely believe Tusla is working its way through this with a real sense of urgency. It has closed six centres and stopped working with them, and there have been five Garda referrals over a period of time. The Deputy mentioned some absolute horrors, as is his right in this House. I do not want anyone to think that any part of this country, service in this country or any individual in this country is beyond the reproach of An Garda Síochána or the law in this land. I think the CEO said connections with six centres have been ceased and there have been five Garda referrals. There are also internal monitoring teams in Tusla, which have carried out 300 visits.

It is also true that there has been an increase in the number of children requiring care, as the Deputy knows. We have seen an increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection. That reduced a lot compared with what it was a year or 18 months ago. Tusla is having to deal in real time with these pressures. It is very serious.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The Tánaiste has not given a date or a commitment that these will be closed completely. The "RTÉ Investigates" programme was of great value but there was one problem with it. The Minister for children was invisible in that show. Tusla is not operating in a vacuum. Tusla is a product of the Tánaiste's Government. It is a responsibility of the Government's Minister. The lack of funds and the lack of social workers is a policy choice by the Government. This scandal is unfolding in Tusla. It ranks up there with many of the scandals in the past but the difference is that this is unfolding in real time for the Government, and Tusla cannot be used as some kind of insulation blanket to separate the Tánaiste's Government from the responsibility for this horror. The Tánaiste said once that he wanted this country to be the best country in the world to be a child. For many of these children, with these horrors, it is one of the worst countries in the world to be a child at the moment. Children are being killed, raped and groomed at a cost of €14,000 a week to the State. When will there be accountability? When will the resources be matched to the needs? Will the Tánaiste give a date and a commitment that by the end of this year, these SEAs will be closed?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I need to be very careful here. There are extraordinarily harrowing cases that deserve and require a full investigation. I know that, over time, there have been five referrals to An Garda Síochána. The gardaí do their job very well but we should also acknowledge that Tusla is not the problem here. Tusla is working with children in very vulnerable and complex situations. It is not acceptable for any child to have an adverse or bad experience but it is important to say that-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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It is a sanitised response.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The same rules apply to Deputy Tóibín as to anyone.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is important to say that there are around 6,000 children in our care system, living with foster parents and in registered centres. The vast majority are in education and training. It is also true, in fairness to the Minister, Deputy Foley, who is working hard on this matter, that she secured an increase in the Tusla budget of €177 million this year on top of an additional €53 million in additional capital funding. The use of these centres is decreasing and Tusla is determined to continue to decrease it.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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No date, Tánaiste.