The Minister has been asked repeatedly but there is nothing new in what he said today regarding the retained firefighters. They walked out when the Minister said it the other night. He pointed towards the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, the Labour Court, the constraints of Building Momentum, and the informal national pay talks in July. This is an escalating situation. The retained firefighters are going on all-out strike and talking about handing in their pagers. What will the Minister do personally to intervene? Is there a way around those constraints? The issue of pay has to be addressed between now and July. That timeline is simply unacceptable. What will the Minister do and what will he say today that is new on the issue of retained firefighters?

I have outlined very clearly what has been done, what progress has been made, and what issues are outstanding. Absolutely, the issue of pay remains outstanding. I have given a commitment that I intend for that to be dealt with as part of the public sector pay talks, which start next month. I am not trying to score political points but it is a fact that the Deputy's party leader, when she raised the matter earlier this week, talked about parties re-engaging with the WRC and with the State apparatus that is there to resolve these matters. The Deputy's other colleagues have gone further by seeking exceptions. There is a public sector pay deal there so there are constraints. However, I want to be clear that the requests and the asks of the retained fire service men and women are absolutely reasonable as regards pay and I will advocate for that. I ask them, very respectfully, to re-engage with the WRC. This is resolvable and it is resolvable in everyone's interests. Let us not forget that I commissioned the retained fire services report. That gives us a roadmap of 13 recommendations for the sector.

I am sorry; we are way over time. Deputy Ó Cuív is next.