I join with the Tánaiste in congratulating Teresa and wishing Noel and Liam the very best in their new roles.

We are led to believe it will be six months until the Government produces a budget. I think the Tánaiste will agree with me that over the course of the pandemic it was proven that when the Government needs to or feels it can intervene in a swift fashion, it can do so. The Tánaiste knows there is a cost of living crisis and we are welcoming refugees from Ukraine who deserve and need our support. Surely the Government must recognise that we cannot wait six months to have a budget. We need an emergency budget. Can he commit to having such a budget between now and the summer? Is it his intention to wait six months? Families cannot wait six months for the type of intervention that is now needed.

I thank the Deputy. The budget happens in October every year, and will happen in October this year. The demand for a mini or emergency budget has to me elements of sloganeering. Taking action does not require us to have a budget. People will know that during the pandemic we introduced the pandemic unemployment payment, which cost €9 billion. We did not have a mini-budget for that. We implemented the employment wage subsidy scheme to save jobs. We did not have a mini-budget for that. We have already taken €200 off people's electricity bills and brought about the biggest cuts ever to petrol and diesel prices. We did all of that without a mini-budget. It is not the case that an emergency budget or a mini-budget is required for a Government to take action. We can do that anyway. We have done that to date in responding to the emergency of the pandemic and the refugee and cost of living crises.