Micheál Martin
Ceist:1. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he has spoken to Chancellor Merkel recently. [40409/17]
Ceisteanna - Questions
Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Seán Haughey
Ceist:2. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Taoiseach if he has spoken to President Macron recently. [40539/17]
Micheál Martin
Ceist:3. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Mr. Guy Verhofstadt on 21 September 2017; and the issues that were discussed. [40675/17]
Joan Burton
Ceist:4. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, MEP, on 21 September 2017. [40730/17]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he has spoken with Chancellor Merkel recently. [41674/17]
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:6. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Mr. Guy Verhofstadt and the issues raised. [41718/17]
Micheál Martin
Ceist:7. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he has spoken to other EU leaders recently regarding Ireland and Brexit. [41866/17]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together.
Ongoing political engagement with our EU and international partners is crucial, especially as negotiations on Brexit proceed. I will continue to use every opportunity to ensure that other member states and EU institutions fully understand our particular concerns arising from Brexit in order to enable the best possible outcome for this country. Other Ministers, in particular the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, who has special responsibility for Brexit, are also meeting their EU counterparts on a regular basis.
I attended my first meeting of the European Council in June. I took the opportunity to arrange bilateral meetings there with President Tusk, President Juncker, who was joined by Michel Barnier, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. I also spoke informally in the margins of the European Council with a number of other European counterparts.
Last week I attended the digital summit in Tallinn, where I also had a bilateral meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and invited him to visit Dublin before the end of the year. I spoke informally in Tallinn with a number of other EU Heads of State and Government, including French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom I will have a full bilateral meeting in Paris later this month. I also congratulated Angela Merkel on her re-election to her fourth term as Chancellor, and said I looked forward to continuing to work closely with her to solve the issues that shape the future of our shared Union. I have also had a number of other important bilateral meetings since taking office as Taoiseach, including with Prime Minister May, most recently in London last week, the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
I met Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's lead Brexit co-ordinator, in Dublin on 21 September, having met him in June when I was a Minister. We discussed all aspects of the Brexit negotiations, with a particular focus on Irish-specific issues, namely, the Good Friday Agreement, the peace process, the Border and the common travel area. Mr. Verhofstadt was on a two-day visit to the island of Ireland and met community and business groups and political parties in Northern Ireland. I thanked him for his personal engagement on the issues and his very supportive statements towards Ireland. We also exchanged views about the future direction of Europe and I updated on our plans for public engagement on this important matter.
Preparing for and dealing with Brexit in a way that delivers the best possible outcome for the country remains a top priority for the Government. The particular issues affecting the island of Ireland are being given priority and considerable attention by our EU partners and the EU task force led by Mr. Barnier. They fully share our concerns and approach, and are working to ensure progress is made on Irish issues in the negotiations with the UK.
I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Yesterday, he said he was not asking for any special status for Northern Ireland because he was holding out for the UK remaining in the Single Market and customs union or for there to be a full free trade zone covering the UK and EU. I would argue that this is quite a peculiar position given the fact that the UK and EU have established as co-redlines demands which make this outcome literally impossible.
The UK wants free trade but no budgetary contributions and no role for EU law or courts. The 27 EU member states, including Ireland, say that these are fundamental requirements. The risk is that the failure to even table solutions specific to Ireland runs the risk of us being left with an agenda solely involving how to manage a customs border. Will the Taoiseach continue to refuse to raise any special measures in these discussions?
As well as using the Government jet to film a party political video, the Taoiseach did the same at the Irish Embassy when he met the Dutch Prime Minister. Yesterday, he used the dismissive tone that is sometimes his trademark during Leaders' Questions and implied that anyone questioning him was calling for a return to typewriters and fax machines. As the Taoiseach knows, for years every party has posted social media videos. However, the Taoiseach is the first to see no distinction between his official role and his party political role. To him, everything seems to be part of the campaign for Leo.
Can the Taoiseach confirm it is still his position that Government employees and facilities used during European Union summits can be used for creating and posting Fine Gael Party videos? How does he square that behaviour with past practice and ethics legislation? It is a very fundamental point. It is not about the mere utilisation of videos. Rather, as I have said, it is about the utilisation of Government employees and facilities for party political purposes.
I welcome the fact the Taoiseach is having a bilateral meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. Yesterday he informed the House he had read his recent speech in which he set out a vision for Europe. He called for a more sovereign, unified and democratic EU and for the re-foundation of Europe. We can all agree with that. There were things in his speech with which we in this country would agree and other things about which we would have concerns.
He mentioned tax harmonisation and saluted the Competition and Finance Commissioners. They have started pushing certain actors and countries. He said we must grow further and cannot allow structural funds to finance lower corporate tax rates - that is Europe backwards.
The Taoiseach will be aware that the European Commission has decided to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover €13 billion in illegal state aid from Apple. We need to concentrate on the things we agree on in member states. When the Taoiseach has his bilateral meeting with the French President, can he discuss the issues of concern to Ireland and point out to him the important role small nation states can play in shaping the future of Europe?
The situation in Catalonia, about which the Taoiseach was asked yesterday, continues to escalate. What conversations has he had, and what does he intend to have, with other European leaders about the escalating crisis?
There was a narrative yesterday, partly echoed by the Taoiseach, involving the condemnation of violence in general and the need for dialogue. Judging from the unprecedented intervention of the Spanish King, it is absolutely clear that the Spanish state is totally intransigent. It is not interested in dialogue or mediation. The belief in Catalonia is that if the Catalonian people try to declare independence based on a 90% "Yes" vote in the referendum, there will be serious repression, more than we have seen to date.
What is the attitude of the Taoiseach towards that? What attitude, if any, has he garnered from other European leaders about what appears to be an intransigent and brutal effort by the Spanish state to suppress people without any willingness to discuss a democratic move towards self-determination by the people of Catalonia? Do European leaders recognise how serious the situation is? It is the most serious political and constitutional crisis Western Europe has faced in some decades. Do the Taoiseach and other European leaders have a sense of urgency about the situation? What stance are the Taoiseach and other European leaders going to take on this situation?
The Taoiseach's reply refers to a lot of contact, which is appropriate given the urgency of the situation and the centrality of the Brexit issue. It is difficult to know what the outcome will be because it is hard to figure out the Government's position on some of these issues. I refer in particular to the decision by the European Court of Justice. The European Commission confirmed today that it is taking the State to the European Court of Justice for the failure to recover up to €13 billion of tax due from Apple. The Taoiseach will remember that last August the Commission ordered Apple to pay unpaid taxes as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid in a sweetheart deal.
Apple is appealing this, which is fair enough, but that is not good enough for the Government. Not only does it not want to get the money back for taxpayers, it is also appealing the decision. I am sure we will be told by the Minister for Finance next week that there is very little money available and that the priority must be to balance the books, whatever that means. Households cannot balance their books, but I am sure we will be told resources are limited, yet there has been no effort made to recover the money and now we must pay huge amounts in dealing with the court cases, the appeal and the Commission's decision to take us to the European Court of Justice. Will the Government drop its appeal which has already cost €3.6 million? When I raised the issue of the use of Translarna earlier, the Taoiseach said there was a cost factor. We could collect the taxes owed by Apple. It would go a long way towards dealing with these difficulties within the health service and the housing emergency and also save the taxpayer the millions we will now have to pay out in dealing with two court cases.
The Government notes the announcement made by Commissioner Vestager this morning. It is a decision with which we disagree. We believe it is wholly unnecessary and very much unwarranted at this time. We profoundly disagree with the European Commission's interpretation of state aid rules. It is our view that tax is a matter of national competence. It is a matter for this Parliament, not the European Commission. It is already on appeal to the European Court of Justice. Even so, in the meantime, we are making arrangements to collect the €13 billion from Apple. The NTMA is managing this process and has tendered for fund managers to set up an escrow account and someone to manage the money until the European Court of Justice decides to whom it belongs. I am aware that the budget will be announced next week and it is very important to say this is not money that could be spent this year or next year to solve any of our problems or do anything. It is money that must be held in a ring-fenced escrow account until the European Court of Justice decides to whom it rightfully belongs - Apple, Ireland or other countries.
On the ongoing Brexit negotiations, it is our preference and negotiating position that we maintain free trade in merchandise and services between Great Britain and Ireland. I know that the issues of Northern Ireland and the Border are extremely important, but from the point of view of Irish business and agriculture, the level of trade between Ireland and Great Britain is much greater than that between Ireland and Northern Ireland. As this is particularly the case for the agrifood sector, we are determined to secure a customs union partnership and a free trade agreement or area between Great Britain and Ireland in the post-Brexit scenario. We do not want to sacrifice or give up our free trade with Great Britain. That is very much our position. Of course, we will have fall-back positions if things do not work out. I do not think it would be in the interests of Ireland or the people for us to outline our fall-back or negotiating positions in a Chamber such as this for the obvious reason that they would all be transmitted to the people with whom we are negotiating. That would not be in our interests. There is a facility for party leaders to be briefed directly by my Department on the negotiations. We certainly do not rule out seeking special arrangements for Ireland and Northern Ireland, but that is not by any means our negotiating position or preference.
On the two videos referred by Deputy Micheál Martin, one from Baldonnel and the other from the Irish Embassy in Tallinn, I checked both yesterday and neither of them contains any political content. The content is entirely about the business and work of the day - my work as Taoiseach. There is nothing party political in them whatsoever, but in order to allay the Deputy's concerns, in the future I will post them on merrionstreet.ie before they are posted on any other account. I am not sure that will make any difference in practice, but if it will help to allay the Deputy's concerns, I am happy to make the change.
In response to Deputy Séan Haughey, I will speak to President Macron about the role of nation states and the important role of small nation states. It is important that we have a European Union in which small members states will be respected and included and in which their full contribution to European Union integration will be harnessed. I do not like to see the big member states - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - meeting together to the exclusion of small member states. I will certainly have no difficulty in making that statement.
On the situation in Catalonia, I have not had any direct contact with other European leaders about the issue. There has, of course, been contact at official level in the past couple of days. My main business has been conducting business in this House and dealing with domestic matters. However, I am sure the issue will be discussed at the European Council the week after next. It is important to point out that while Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett is correct that 90% voted for independence in the referendum, only 42% of the people participated. This was, in part, due to the fact that the referendum was not lawful and was boycotted by millions of Catalans who wanted devolution, not separation. The contrast is with the referendum held in Quebec which happened under Canadian law and in which there was a massive turnout and the referendum held in Scotland which happened under UK law and in which there was a massive turnout. The fact that most people did not turn out to vote in a referendum on whether the country in which they lived should be a state really strikes at the legitimacy of the referendum. We must bear that in mind.
Ministerial Responsibilities
Gerry Adams
Ceist:8. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the delegation orders he has made in respect of Ministers of State assigned to his Department. [40533/17]
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:9. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach the functions that have been delegated to Ministers of State assigned to his Department. [41720/17]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.
On 14 June 2017 the Government appointed Deputy Joe McHugh as Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at my Department and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with special responsibility for Gaeilge, the Gaeltacht and the islands and Deputy Paul Kehoe as Minister of State at my Department and the Department of Defence with special responsibility for defence. On 20 June the Government appointed Deputy Pat Breen as Minister of State at my Department, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice and Equality with special responsibility for trade, employment, business, the EU digital Single Market and data protection and Deputy Helen McEntee as Minister of State at my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with special responsibility for European affairs.
At my request, on 5 July, the Government made an order delegating my statutory functions relating to the Central Statistics Office under the Statistics Act 1993, the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005 and the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 to the Government Chief Whip, Deputy Joe McHugh.
The Taoiseach has made many commitments on the issue of political reform. When I look at the delegation of responsibilities to various Ministers, it seems very light. There is also a commitment to examine the creation of unpaid roles of parliamentary private secretaries, as well as an examination of the balance of power and responsibilities between the Government and the Civil Service. As far as I can ascertain, that has yet to happen.
I would like to give the Taoiseach some friendly advice about Northern Ireland. I was going to do it privately, but I will do so now. Nobody in Northern Ireland is impressed when he refers to Northern issues, as he did recently in response to a question from Deputy Mary Lou McDonald which was not about Northern Ireland. He asked, "Is it any small wonder the people of Northern Ireland do not have an Executive or an Assembly? It is because this is the attitude of Sinn Féin." On mature reflection, I am sure he knows that this is an untruthful claim. Similarly, this morning, when I referred to the sad story of the little boys who had been denied Translarna in this State, the Taoiseach referred to the non-availability of Orkambi in Northern Ireland. I campaigned for the making available of Orkambi here and in Northern Ireland. I have not spoken to the parents of the little boys, but I am sure they are not impressed. I think the Taoiseach has fallen into the Deputy Enda Kenny trap which involves, as others here know, casting up issues in Northern Ireland that have nothing to do with the issues I raise. The Taoiseach must rise above this instinct and I wish him well. There are big challenges in dealing with all of these matters.
If the Taoiseach is genuinely going to be reforming as he has said, then we need to see Ministers of State playing a more substantive role in policy formation and we need to see continuation of reform of departmental structures and Cabinet Ministers.
Whatever the Taoiseach says about the North does not take a whiz out of me, nor does whatever the leader of Fianna Fáil says about the North. I am trying to provide good, honest advice as someone who spends at least one or two days in the North each week and who was there last week, at the same time the Taoiseach made these remarks to Teachta McDonald, assisting Michelle O'Neill trying to get the process back on track. It is no matter to me personally but I think it is just good advice to the Taoiseach, who I wish well.
The very clear evidence produced in the media through freedom of information is that there was an effort to delay implementation of the request of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that overpayments be returned by Ministers of State, particularly those at the Cabinet. Why did this delay happen and why was there an attempt to mislead a journalist about the state of the issue? The legislation clearly limits the Government to two Ministers of State receiving the extra allowance but it is silent about how to decide which Minister of State gets the allowance. Traditionally, the Chief Whip would be seen as a senior Minister of State at Cabinet. How was it decided that the Chief Whip, rather than either of the Ministers of State, Deputies Finian McGrath or Paul Kehoe, would be the one not to receive the allowance? Now that the Taoiseach has expanded the number attending Cabinet to an unprecedented four - we will go through the specifics on delegation orders later - to sort out internal Fine Gael problems, will he explain what process he undertook to decide who would receive the allowance and who would not? Will he confirm whether the Ministers of State, Deputies Finian McGrath and Paul Kehoe, refused to forgo the allowance?
There is a number of questions and I did not get a chance to write them all down.
I always appreciate Deputy Adams' advice on the North. My point on Orkambi is that it is available in this jurisdiction but not in Northern Ireland and by forming an Executive and by participating in government in Northern Ireland rather than just campaigning for it, Sinn Féin can actually have a position of responsibility and make it happen. As I mentioned earlier, the decision about Translarna was made under law by the HSE, not by the Government, but I have asked for more information about it because I am conscious that it is available in 20 or 22 other countries and not in this jurisdiction, which is unusual.
Including the North.
Given that the company that manufactures it is taking the Government to court it does not make it easy to resolve that issue.
I do not know everything about allowances paid to Ministers of State attending Cabinet because some of it happened before I was Taoiseach and the matter has largely been dealt with by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The position is that only two Ministers of State serving at Cabinet can be paid this allowance. A view was taken previously that it would be possible to pay a separate Chief Whip's allowance in the same way that party Whips receive allowances, including Fianna Fáil's party Whip. The former Chief Whip, Deputy Regina Doherty, was paid on that basis. It subsequently transpired that was not lawful and the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, has agreed to pay back the overpayment that occurred. It is important to say that she was in no way responsible for that. It was an overpayment, not something that she claimed, and she bears no responsibility for it whatsoever. Two people will continue to be paid the allowance and were already in receipt of it. They are the Ministers of State, Deputies Finian McGrath and Paul Kehoe. I did not ask them to give it up so it never arose that they would have to because they were in receipt of it. The other two, the Ministers of State, Deputies Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Joe McHugh, were not in receipt of the allowance and so will not be able to receive it unless this House changes the law.
Irish Prisoners Abroad
Gerry Adams
Ceist:10. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his conversation with the President of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 28 August 2017. [40534/17]
I spoke with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi by telephone on Monday 28 August. The call was instigated at my request to discuss the case of an Irish citizen, Ibrahim Halawa. I emphasised the importance that the Irish Government places on this consular case and received assurances from the president that he would intervene, if necessary, following the announcement of a verdict, to ensure Ibrahim was returned home as soon as possible.
I wholeheartedly welcome the announcement on 18 September that Ibrahim and his three sisters have been acquitted of all charges. I look forward to Ibrahim returning home to his family as soon as possible.
As the Taoiseach has acknowledged, it was three weeks ago, on 18 September, that Ibrahim Halawa and his three sisters were finally acquitted of all charges. It was a long time coming for his family, supporters and all involved, and especially for him, who was imprisoned. I am sure the family and Ibrahim felt this was an end of a long nightmare and there was an expectation that he would be released within days. However, he has still not been released as of today and I can ascertain no hard information of when he might be released. Arguably, he is illegally held. What is the basis of holding him in prison? We are advised that there may be an issue with paperwork. Will the Taoiseach tell us if the Government has any information on the current situation? Have any Government officials visited Ibrahim since he was acquitted? If by chance, and I would be disappointed if the Taoiseach did not have information on this, the Taoiseach does not know why he is still in prison, will he, as a matter of urgency, find out and inform the Dáil?
I want to state that we warmly welcome the end of the trial of Ibrahim Halawa. There has been a sustained public campaign and support across the political divide and among the Irish people to ensure that his cause was always in the public profile and that he would be released. It is a source of concern and worry that he has not yet been released and that he is not home in Ireland. He and his family received considerable support from the Irish people, which has to be acknowledged.
In a situation like this, having been a former Minister for Foreign Affairs, I was of a view that I wanted the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, to have as much space as possible to engage with the Egyptian authorities to effect the release of Ibrahim Halawa. In situations such as this, it is important that we create space for those in authority and I trust the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to do everything it possibly can in such situations. I also acknowledge the role of the Ceann Comhairle and others who led a delegation to Egypt. That was important and it helped to ensure that the Egyptian authorities knew the unanimous position of the Irish Parliament. Having said that about allowing space, the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, consistently indicated that he felt that it would perhaps be a guilty verdict at the end of the trial, because there was not much faith in the Egyptian legal system, and that perhaps the President would issue a pardon and Ibrahim Halawa would be released.
It is a matter of grave concern that it took so long and this cannot be let go where it relates to our relationship with Egypt. We had a strong relationship with previous Egyptian Governments, notwithstanding their authoritarian nature, and I was privately very disquieted and concerned at the fact that this went on for so long and that an Irish citizen could be held without trial and deprived of fundamental human rights for so long. This entire unsatisfactory and disgraceful event needs to be evaluated by Ireland. It should play a factor in influencing our future relationship and engagement with Egypt. We need to have some hard discussions with the Egyptian authorities because this cannot and should not be allowed to happen again. It serves nobody, neither the Egyptian people nor Government, and it deprived an Irish citizen of fundamental human rights.
I join with others in recognising the role of the Ceann Comhairle and the all-party delegation to Egypt which, I agree, was helpful in demonstrating to the Egyptian authorities that this was an all-party and non-party campaign in support of him. He received strong support from different parties and also from across Irish society. Now that Ibrahim Halawa has been acquitted, the Government remains focused on ensuring he gets home as soon as possible. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our embassy in Cairo are liaising closely with the Halawa family, including on travel arrangements. A number of steps remain to be gone through before Ibrahim is able to depart Egypt. A new passport has been issued to him and Irish authorities and Ibrahim's legal representatives remain in ongoing contact with the Egyptian authorities about this process.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, has been in direct contact with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr. Sameh Shoukry, to request his help in expediting the process and I have written to President el-Sisi about the matter.
We have no confirmation at this stage on when Ibrahim will be returning home to Dublin but his family have indicated that they wish to keep the arrangements for his return private, and I think everyone will want to respect that.
In terms of relations with Egypt being normalised, the case has rightly been the most significant issue in our engagement with Egypt over the past four years. We have maintained diplomatic relations with Egypt, and cordial relations at Government-to-Government level, throughout. This has been important in enabling us to look after his welfare and ensure that our embassy has consular access to support him. It ensured that our diplomats were able to observe the trial proceedings and engage in the crucial contacts at political level which resulted in the assurances that were given by President el-Sisi to the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, that he would be returned home.
During our engagement with the Egyptian Government over the past four years, issues of human rights and the rule of law have been front and centre in our dialogue. I have no doubt that we will continue the conversation on those and other issues of mutual interest, and build on it as we move forward.
I should point out that Ireland looks forward to moving our bilateral relations with Egypt back into the space where we can engage on the full range of matters concerned, including further developing bilateral trade and tourism relations and progressing Irish-Egyptian political relations into the future.
All is forgiven.
It was remiss of me not to mention the Ceann Comhairle's role today, although I have done so in the past. For the record, I commend the Ceann Comhairle once again for his role in this injustice issue.
I asked the Taoiseach if any Irish Government officials visited Ibrahim in the prison since he was acquitted and he did not answer that question.
I thank the Taoiseach for the reply. It is almost as if it is business as usual with Egypt and that we have moved on quickly from where we were. As someone who, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, enjoyed cordial, productive and constructive engagement with Egypt, the previous regime notwithstanding, it is important that we do not step back from advocating for respect for human rights and due process, within Egypt itself and elsewhere. It cannot be merely all is forgiven. There has to be some evaluation of the fact that a person, an Irish citizen, was four years without any due process. That is not satisfactory. There has to be some form of protest and some process by which we communicate that and continue to raise it.
At European level and elsewhere, we need to be a strong voice in favour of continuing to put pressure on countries, such as Egypt, which are important neighbours. Egypt has an important role to play in the Middle East. Notwithstanding whatever economic and trading ties we have, this chapter must inform the next chapter, but the next one has to be a different chapter. The practices of the present Egyptian Government are unacceptable, particularly in relation to human rights and due process. That is something that we have experienced in the form of an Irish citizen being deprived of his rights. We cannot simply close the chapter and move on quickly into other areas.
To answer Deputy Adams's question as to whether any officials visited Ibrahim since his acquittal, I do not know that for certain. I assume they have because they have visited regularly and I imagine they would have to have been there to give him his passport. I will check that out and make sure that is the case.
I assure Deputy Micheál Martin that we will not step back from raising human rights issues with Egypt or other countries. It is not my view that relations can go back to normal overnight once he returns home. Nonetheless, it is very much the wish of the Government that we normalise relations with Egypt. Egypt is an important partner. It is on the border of Europe on the Mediterranean. We would in the future like to improve relations with the country, particularly around trade and tourism, but we will never divorce that from human rights.
I am in Members' hands. We normally take three groups of questions. That is what we have done but we have nine minutes remaining. We could proceed to take Questions Nos. 11 and 12, or we could proceed with questions to the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
I propose we proceed with questions to the Minister.
Is that agreed? Agreed.