This is a very strange ruling. I would like the Ceann Comhairle to outline his ruling in writing to Members.

The ruling to adjourn the Dáil earlier. I rang the Taoiseach to question him on what was happening, and to say that I did not understand why the Dáil was adjourned. The Taoiseach subsequently rang me back to say he agreed and that he had asked for the Dáil to be reconvened. We have 19 junior ministers. I am not sure what the legal basis was for this. Under the Constitution the House sets its own rules, as we all know, but a precedent has been set here. We are living in different times. This could happen again and t…

The Ceann Comhairle will put that in writing, I take it.

That is what I asked for at the beginning-----

Just the process by which the Dáil adjourned. The Ceann Comhairle has outlined it to us now but it is just the detail of that process. Obviously the Taoiseach or somebody approached somebody and the Dáil ended up being adjourned and the process by which that happened-----

Okay, that is clarified.

I thank all three Ministers of State for standing in beyond their briefs and wish the Minister the best. There is no doubt that the children's hospital will not be built on time and that it will cost much more than expected. I was across this issue quite a bit in the previous Dáil, as many will be aware. What we need now is a projection of timelines and costs. Covid-19 will bring additional costs to everything, including all construction projects. We need to know the Government's position on this project. It found …

There are so many competing issues going on. For instance, we all know we need budgets throughout the country for hospital prevention measures. The HSE has been excellent in my county, producing an elderly care unit in Thurles, which is fantastic and fair play to them, to analyse those who are elderly and to prevent them ending up in hospital in the first place. I encourage more of that throughout Ireland. For mental services, in fairness, the Minister of State is battling for a capital budget to renovate the unit …

Given all of the issues we now know about in regard to testing, I am very supportive of the HSE and its endeavours to sort out this issue but it needs support from Government. The deployment of occupational therapists and physiotherapists to testing has to stop. Is there a plan potentially or will we have to move some form of limited self-referral for testing?

I thank the Minister of State for the information. I really appreciate it. The issue is that general practitioners are inundated and we all know it. Increasingly, they are being swamped. For one particular general practitioner in Cork, the number of people presenting has been impossible to deal with. What does the Government propose to do to free up or create a more streamlined process in order that general practitioners during a bad winter or whatever lies ahead - it is going to be bad one way or the other but hop…

Interestingly, I offered to speak to the Minister about it but I have not heard back from him since. It is an open invitation. I have no problem referring people who provide it. There are a number of variations of the device. As a country, we need to consider it. If it is good enough for other jurisdictions, we should look at it as well, particularly as winter approaches. I am not saying it is fool-safe or perfect but it is a contribution, particularly in terms of airport testing. We will have to review airport tes…

Next week is a big one for the Government. The legislative programme will be announced and the plan for how we are going to live with Covid is also going to be announced and that is very much needed. It is important at this juncture to point out that the public is very much waiting for this and living on every word that is being said by the Government. We need to have a watershed next week whereby all the confusion, messing and internal rivalry within the Government ends. The Government and Ministers must chart a p…

I thank the Tánaiste and sincerely hope he takes on board the points I have made. Another issue I would like him to take on board is the plan next week. From a joined up thinking point of view, it is important that the winter plan to be published by the Department of Health follows quickly and in tandem with the plan being published next week. Non-Covid health issues have been significantly impacted. We need a plan so that members of the public can have confidence that they will engage with our health services and …

I thank the Taoiseach. We are aware of what the Taoiseach has committed to and what is on the schedule. We are also aware of the Covid situation. I will focus on the referendum on housing. The Taoiseach has listed what he intends to do and what is proposed in the programme for Government but I want to get more detail on projections and timelines for where the Government is going on the referendum on housing. We know of the increase in homeless figures and that the ban on evictions is gone. Rent will be a big issue …

I brought in the legislation.

I thank the Taoiseach. Britain does not renounce treaties. Indeed, to do so would damage our integrity as well as international relations. I hope that is the first and last time I ever have to quote the former UK Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher. We are in a difficult situation, given what the British Government has stated. I was interested in the Taoiseach's tweet yesterday: Any negotiation process can only proceed on the basis of trust. When one party to a negotiation decides that they can change what's already agre…

The Cabinet committee on Europe is obviously important and should be meeting pretty regularly, possibly at short notice, given current dynamics. It has been a difficult few weeks for Ireland on the European stage, culminating in the events that led to our previous discussion. All of us in this House need to work together to fight for the best interests of our country. We have lost a commissioner and I wish my former MEP colleague, Mairéad McGuinness, the very best in her new role. I am sure she will do very well in…

Are the figures still around €1.3 billion in grants and €1.4 billion in loans? We have not much information or clarity in that area. Have we any details about conditions attaching to such money? It would be helpful to know that, particularly the conditions that might apply to loans. I understand that under the recovery and resilience facility, of which approximately €853 million is available to Ireland, member states must submit draft plans along with a national budget in October. Where are we on that? What stage i…

The timelines are similar.

The timelines for applications to the recovery and resilience facility and the announcement of the budget are the same. Are we preparing our submission in tandem with the budget? Where do they cross over? Will the Taoiseach give detail about that? The potential funding from that facility will cross over a range of areas. Who is in charge of making the submission? Was it discussed at the Cabinet committee on Europe or where has it been discussed? Where is it being drilled through in terms of Cabinet committees? The …