I have been spokesperson on health for several years and have sat in committees with the current Minister for Health. I put it to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, that it is very disappointing that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, cannot be here for this debate, considering what he has said in the past on this issue, including having queried why so many of our nurses were abroad and would not work here in Ireland. I would like the Minister to dwell on what he has said on this issue and on the questions he aske…

Yesterday, I raised the requirement to have a Minister in charge of the roll-out of vaccinations for Covid-19. In fairness, the Taoiseach said he would consider the issue. I hope he does so by the end of this week. I fundamentally believe we need one. The volume of people who have been in contact with me agree. We must have a situation where somebody working in this eminent task force is not being second-guessed and that he or she does not have to go through the line Minister or line Department and worry about whet…

I appreciate the information the Taoiseach has provided to the House. This is not in any way about politics, and I mean that sincerely. My party believes we must up our game here. The Taoiseach will be aware of the adage, "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail", from his fellow Cork man. We cannot have that. We must get it right. I fully support the Taoiseach in this regard. However, with regard to the information he provided to the House, I believe information will have to be provided continually and not just as a resu…

We also do not need a situation where the communications on how we are going to implement all of this will be done once or twice a year in the Dáil.

The Taoiseach is going to be busy.

It is under the Department of the Taoiseach.

They were of a different scale.

I am not sure if the Taoiseach is aware that a number of section 39 workers represented by SIPTU and Fórsa are demonstrating outside his constituency office in Cork at the moment. They have submitted a claim for pay restoration which the Labour Party supports. These workers have done Trojan work throughout the pandemic and are most valuable members of our community. I sat beside the current Minister for Health when in he was Opposition spokesperson on health and he supported this claim, in great voice. He wondered …

They said they were in what?

I thank the Taoiseach for repeating all that. Yesterday was obviously a big day and Friday will be another big day. Regarding the trajectory of the virus, we do not know what that will be, obviously, but consideration might be given to when the Government is going to make some announcements concerning 6 January. I am not asking the Taoiseach what he is going to announce, just when that will be done. Will it be on 1 or 2 January? How much time will be given in respect of where we will be going from then? The tourism…

In fairness to the professor, he cannot make those decisions.

I accept that, but other people are given a little bit more latitude than I am.

Regarding the Covid-19 passport, the committee has to be given guidance concerning what rules it must implement for such a passport.

I understand what the Taoiseach is saying. The situation with our troops in the Golan Heights and Lebanon is very difficult because of restrictions on travelling abroad. Usually a Minister, the Taoiseach or somebody would visit them because of the significant work they do. This cannot happen at the moment and we need to support them. What else is being done in that regard? I raise the issue of the presidential election in Belarus. What is Europe going to do about this? Belarus as a country is not a nice place, alth…

This is high level stuff. When is it intended to publish the strategy? Will that be done before the conclusion of the Dáil this term? It would be helpful if it was. The current statement of strategy is completely out of date. How is the social dialogue, about which the Taoiseach speaks quite eloquently, perhaps from history, to work? What format or structures will be in place? Will the Government bring something new to the table regarding how we do things? The Taoiseach spoke about the economy earlier. Will it be d…

Today is a good day for many businesses and people going back to work as we re-enter level 3 of the plan for living with Covid-19. I am glad our party suggested some time ago that we endeavour to have an opening up for the Christmas period. In fairness, the Government has followed that, so today is a good day. However, the critical discussion around kitchen tables at Christmas will be about vaccines. I wish to ask the Taoiseach some questions about this. In America, Food and Drug Administration, FDA, approval for t…

I attended the European conference on vaccinations last year. I am a 100% advocate, in every way shape and form. However, the words "task force" fill me with concern. This is nothing to do with politics. Trust me when I say that we all have to get this right. I accept what the Taoiseach is saying about EU procurement. I accept what he is saying regarding the number of vaccines. We probably will have up to ten options, from what I am hearing. That is all very positive. However, there are a number of issues to consid…

I urge the Taoiseach to consider appointing one person, even if it is somebody brought up just to take on this role and be responsible.

This issue is far too important to do otherwise.

I wish to ask about cancer survival rates. A report issued last week by the National Cancer Control Programme stated that at least 2,000 cases have gone undiagnosed since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is deeply concerning. We also know that the number of referrals from GPs has dropped dramatically. There are issues across the board, but I refer particularly to cancer diagnosis among men. Will the Government implement a catch-up programme to avoid a trade-off between Covid-19 and issues relating to ca…