Yes, do it out.

Do the statistics out. Put them out on a page and show me how they are better off. How in the name of God can that young couple with one or two children living in Dublin, working in low-paid jobs, potentially retail or something similar, be better off? Do not start this craic of being thankful for having jobs because that is not acceptable to me. That is why this budget is a missed opportunity. There are some good things here that I would support with regard to business opportunities and supports for businesses. I …

The Taoiseach is in a unique position today. Last week, I told him the question I would ask him today. I subsequently wrote to him, outlining it in detail. I do not know how often that has been done before. I again outlined the issue to him when we spoke approximately 15 minutes ago. I also raised the matter with the Minister. I am seeking a comparative analysis year-on-year, January to September, in respect of diagnoses of cancer and coronary issues and treatments of both illnesses. I am not raising this issue for…

He was taking something down from his phone. I would prefer it if he were listening to me. The real reason I am raising this issue is that I have a deep concern regarding the number of missed diagnoses and delayed treatments. Obviously, there are consequential issues relating to morbidity and mortality. The Irish Cancer Society estimates that more than 450 cancers and 1,600 pre-cancers went undetected during the pause in screenings from late March to the end of July. On top of that, I have been hearing some very wo…

If the Taoiseach thinks it will not be possible to get the figures, he should make that clear.

These are complex issues.

I think the State should buy private hospitals. I am asking the Taoiseach to provide the analysis I am seeking. I will give him another week to so do. That is two weeks he will have had, as Taoiseach of the country, to get those figures. We need diagnostics in other spheres. We need a public awareness campaign to stop people missing appointments. We need that analysis today. People trying to get to appointments in Dublin today have been held up on the M7 for more than two hours. As the Taoiseach admitted, in fairne…

The new normal is working from home. We encourage it in the pandemic and I support that but it brings additional costs to workers. In the context of the budget next week, I ask the Taoiseach to consider the following. We need the Revenue Commissioners to inform employees of what they are entitled to by way of a public awareness campaign. The self-employed are allowed to write off costs in respect of light, heating, telephone, etc. When it comes to the PAYE sector, given the fact we are in level 3 and that we could …

As an aside, will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Health or somebody, perhaps through NPHET, to sort out the issue arising over masks and visors? The misuse of visors across the country and, dare I say, in this House is wrong. It is not helping in our collective fight against Covid. The issue I want to ask the Taoiseach about concerns our use of private hospitals. I have referred to this before. I have been banging on about it for a long time. Without a shadow of a doubt, part of the reason NPHET made its recomm…

Will the Taoiseach consider the purchase of such hospitals in the coming budget for the coming year? We need them?

First, yesterday at the Taoiseach's announcement it was strongly reported that he was going to announce a new bank holiday.

Yes. He can deny it was even in his thoughts or part of his assessments but it was strongly reported. In fact, it was assumed for some reason. A date was even given out. It was to be around Christmas. He can come back and let us know if that was in his thoughts. If it was not, he should just say it out straight. If it was considered, he should tell us why he dropped it at the last minute. Given where we have gone in recent days - I am not trudging over old ground - we need to consider how we plan to support people.…

The Taoiseach ran out of time earlier but he might inform the House why he bottled the announcement of 21 December as a bank holiday. Last night, we were led to believe this might happen. If the Government was never even considering it, he can tell us that as well. On the matter at hand, I have no issue with spending where it is appropriate but when the Taoiseach was leader of the Opposition he vigorously opposed the strategic communications unit. What is he doing differently? How much less is he going to spend tha…

The minutes are always six weeks behind.

Give out the guidance on visors, please.

It is not.

It is an interesting one.

It was in someone's head.

I will share time with Deputy Sherlock. I thank the Minister of State for her contribution and I thank the Deputies who tabled this joint motion. I must comment on the way the Minister of State finished. I know she is a formidable person. I like her style and I compliment her on getting the €37.8 million. However, it says a lot about the Government that she had to fight so hard to get it. If the Government was going to prioritise people with disabilities in the way in which it should, she should not need to fight a…

Following on from the mess yesterday and where we are coming from with calculated grades, the Government set up a calculated grades office in the Department of Education and Skills. Second, it set up the national standardisation group. Third, it set up the independent steering committee to oversee the implementation. Fourth, on top of those, the independent expert Dr. Janet Brown was appointed as an external reviewer. As such there were four layers in order to do the calculated grades. Then on 24 August all of that…