As it is the last time I will speak in the Chamber before Christmas, I wish the Minister and all his staff who have worked incredibly hard and indeed all the workers across the healthcare systems the very best and thank them for all their efforts in this extraordinary year. I particularly also thank the HSE, led by Mr. Paul Reid, who has done an incredible job and deserves great credit. We all go through our political careers in one way or another. We all face various different obstacles - I am no different - but t…

There is growing unease among all of us on the management of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland. Dr. Gabriel Scally, whom we all know well, said that if Northern Ireland was a football team, it would be in the relegation zone and the directors would be bringing in a new manager and coaching team. It is deeply concerning to see ambulances parked in rows outside hospitals with the engines left running. The National Health Service, NHS, is at breaking point. The scale of the crisis in Northern Ireland is a situation we have…

I am aware that the Northern Ireland Executive is a multi-party Executive. I am also aware that there is a North-South Ministerial Council meeting coming up. I raised this matter for that reason. I think the whole of Ireland was shocked by the pictures they saw last night. They reminded us of various times in our past when we had to send up our fire service to help out. We need a number of things. The Taoiseach needs to make it very clear to the Northern Ireland Executive that, from the point of view of performance…

I wish to raise a local nursing home in Tipperary, the Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Home in Roscrea. There was a meeting yesterday between a number of Deputies, the HSE, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State with responsibility for older people. This is a very passionate issue. There is a state-of-the-art public nursing home in Thurles and a new one is being tendered in Nenagh, but we must also provide one in Roscrea. This is the most important issue for the people of Roscrea…

The Deputies are working together and we are working very closely with the mayor of the county, Councillor Michael Smith, a local man, whom the Taoiseach knows quite well. It would be a shot in the arm if the Taoiseach could confirm that this will be considered as part of the process, because it is a deeply worrying issue for the local people.

There is just over a week until Christmas. I reciprocate the Taoiseach's good wishes and wish him, his family and all his colleagues the best. The winter weather is very much with us, as we have seen and felt over recent weeks. In recent months, there has been, unfortunately, a sharp rise in the number of homeless people on our streets passing away. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage does not seem to compile figures on the number of such deaths nationally but we know that the number of deaths …

A couple of days ago, the Central Bank published its second interim report on differential pricing in the insurance market, showing shockingly how this is being dealt with. The practice is ripping off people. Yesterday, we published legislation to deal with this. We ask the Government to engage constructively with this legislation to deal with dual pricing, not just in the insurance market but across a range of entities relating to bills for communications service providers and other utilities. It is completely una…

Thanks to the pressure of the German Minister for health, the European Commission has brought forward the approval process for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 21 December. We all hope it will be approved and we are aware that it will then take a day or two for the market authorisation. Does the Taoiseach agree with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, that there is a strong possibility that we will be in a position in this country to vaccinate some citizens on the priority list before the end of this year?

I again raise the issue of St. Brigid's District Hospital in Carrick-On-Suir. I take great interest in health issues but, in my time in politics, I have rarely seen an issue on which people have been misled so much. The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, gave a commitment to Deputy Cahill that it would reopen in July. A number of commitments were given to all public representatives. I also have correspondence from July. Up until recently, we understood from our conversations with the HSE that it was to reopen. This…

The prioritisation lists for the Covid vaccine were published yesterday. We need clarity on who are the key workers. Everyone is asking the same question. We all support the European Medicines Agency, EMA, approval process for vaccines. Is it possible for the Taoiseach to check whether we can get our proportion of vaccines in advance of the nine-to-ten day differential between the time it will be approved and distributed, in other words, bringing it in advance of potential approval? Logistically, that might work we…

I thank the Taoiseach for the information. That is some whack of advisers. It is a serious number of them. I can tell the Taoiseach straight up if he were standing where I am standing, he would be giving out yards about this. In the past, when this issue has been raised, the Taoiseach spoke about how programme managers were brought in 30 or 40 years ago by the Labour Party and others. The proportionality is a bit different. The volume here is incredible. How many vacancies are there at present? Does the Taoiseach h…

Today is a truly historic day. Joanna Sloan, 28, from Belfast, a nurse working in her field, and Margaret Keenan, 90, originally from County Fermanagh and now in Coventry, received the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. They are obviously not the first people to receive it, but they are the first to receive it post trial. It is an historic day because science has delivered. Science works. We now have vaccines. The scientists have done their work and have delivered. Now we, as public representatives, need to suppo…

I thank the Taoiseach for his positive response. I ask that every Deputy, Senator and MEP do the same. I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach or another member of the Government spoke to those social media companies. It would be helpful in Ireland and further afield. I have a query about next Friday and the task force, which has a set amount of work to do. What database will we use to gather the information? Since I have a background in this area, I think about this matter a great deal. This country's unique identi…

Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House that the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, which will hopefully happen quite soon, will be a public-only campaign? In other words, it will be done by public bodies and while they can bring in private bodies to help them, it will all be under the auspices of the State, and there will not be, in tandem, the possibility whereby private organisations that can afford to do so could vaccinate separate from a national programme. Can he confirm we are in a position, as regards procurement i…

The Taoiseach is showing his age.

This is obviously a critical week for Brexit, and I know things are live at the moment as to where we are at. A number of key issues are outstanding regarding a level playing field, fisheries and the governance of any trade deal. What assurances has the Taoiseach in the area of fisheries that will allow access to UK waters to continue? What we are now hearing about Brexit is positive and certainly better than it was earlier. However, in the event that things go the other direction, what contingencies are in place f…

Government Senators will also have an opportunity to show where they stand on the issue of student nurses as my colleague, Senator Annie Hoey, has published a Bill that will be going through the Seanad to legislate for student nurses to be paid while they are doing their training. It is an even different perspective on it, which will give the Taoiseach a new opportunity to do what is right. We all know what is right. The Taoiseach, however, will have an opportunity again next week. With regard to the programme for …

As the Tánaiste knows, I have been asking this week a number of questions on the rolling out of vaccines and our proposals in this regard. I have been doing so in a non-political way, maybe to dial up our preparations for this collectively. The Irish Times reports today that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, is bringing a memo to the Government next Tuesday on who will be prioritised for vaccination. I understand the Tánaiste briefed his parliamentary party in this regard. However, the Taoiseach said to me …

I thank the Tánaiste. I appreciate his honesty. We do need to decide because private vaccination is an issue. Considering that we must control the process by which the vaccine programme is rolled out, my question is very legitimate. I would appreciate it if it were considered by the Government because it would require legislation. On data management, we may need emergency legislation. We will support it. The Dáil will be sitting for only one more week this year. Is there an issue, therefore? The data being collated…

AIB has announced it will cut 1,500 jobs, closing many rural branches again. The State owns 71% of the bank. My party was the only party in the State that voted against bailing the banks out ten years ago or more. AIB had profits of €1.25 billion in 2018 and €500 million in 2019. Now it is engaged in a vanity project of buying back Goodbody Stockbrokers, which it sold during the crash. It is also charging serious fees to people who have less than €2,500 in their bank accounts and will not engage with the Financial …