I refer to the savage attack on two gardaí in Ballyfermot the other night. Over recent years, more than 400 gardaí, between trainee and qualified, have quit the force. Why is this? Why are there 300 fewer gardaí in the force now compared to two years ago? The Garda Representative Association president, Brendan O'Connor, was on LMFM yesterday. He spoke about a lack of resources, support from his peers, and a lack of support from the Minister for Justice. Why is this the case? In my county of Meath, we have one garda per 650 people, while other counties have one garda per 332. Why is the number in Meath double that of other counties? Why is this not being addressed?

Urgent consideration must be given to a restructuring of the capitation grant for primary schools, with a greater payment per pupil where enrolment is low. There are the same basic costs in maintaining a classroom regardless of the number of pupils in the room. For decades, small schools have played a key role in providing education, particularly in rural areas, but in some instances in urban areas. I refer, for example, to Cavan No. 1 National School in Cavan town, which is under the patronage of the Church of Ireland. This issue is of great importance to schools under the patronage of smaller churches. Adequate supports must be provided for such schools to ensure they remain viable, are within a reasonably accessible distance, and are able to offer the same range of education services as other schools.

Farmers are being vilified and castigated day after day in this Chamber and, indeed, by the media and other commentators in relation to emissions. They are being told they have to reduce emissions by 25%. However, many farmers believe they are carbon neutral and are sequestering more carbon than they are emitting. Why is no measurement taking place to determine what is going on? How do you know what you can spend if you do not know what is in your bank account?

I remind Deputy Guirke that throughout my political career, I have consistently condemned the murder and assault of gardaí. I condemn unreservedly what happened last week. We are increasing Garda numbers. I do not know from where the Deputy gets his figures.

These figures are from the end of September.

There are 14,318 Garda members across the country, an increase of almost 12% since 2015. We are committed to delivering 15,000 members, for which we have activated training and so on. We are very consistent in wanting to improve the numbers.

I take Deputy Brendan Smith's point on the need for supports for small and minority religion schools, in particular. We will do our utmost in terms of the cost-of-living crisis and the significant increase in energy costs. All recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme will benefit from additional capitation funding in 2022. There has been an increase of circa 40% in current standard and enhanced capitation rates. The additional grant will be paid at the rate of €75 per pupil at primary level and €113 at post-primary level. Enhanced rates will also be paid in respect of pupils with special educational needs. Arrangements are being made to issue the payments as soon as possible. Schools will be able to use this support to cover additional energy costs and other day-to-day operating costs that have increased. The Department is also ensuring that centrally negotiated rates are available to schools for electricity and bulk heating fuels. These are available through existing frameworks and sourced by the Office of Government Procurement, and run until 2024. I will engage with the Deputy in terms of additional resources for smaller schools.

I have to disagree with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. Farmers are not being castigated in this House. I rarely hear farmers being-----