I am aware of that but he is waiting quietly in the wings. Whether he remains quiet for long remains to be seen.

The Deputy has exceeded the time anyway.

As it is now past midnight, the Dáil stands adjourned until 9.30 a.m. when it will reconvene at the Convention Centre Dublin.

Is this Deputy Ó Snodaigh's slot?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

The time available has expired. If we get a few minutes later, we might address a couple of the questions that are outstanding. Otherwise, the Minister might correspond with Deputy Boyd Barrett. Deputy Denis Naughten has eight minutes.

We do not have time for a reply but we will try to accommodate-----

Perhaps we can accommodate it at the end if we have time.

If the Minister wants to answer, but otherwise it is not really fair to expect a reply.

We now move to the Independent Group. I call Deputy Connolly.

As there is no Fine Gael Deputy who wishes to speak, I call Deputy Ó Cathasaigh from the Green Party.

We have barely ten minutes left. I ask Members to be as brief as possible because it is not possible to get through the numbers on the list.

Unfortunately, the clock has caught up with us and there are still 14 Members on the list. I will recommend them to the Ceann Comhairle for favourable consideration on the next occasion, but there is no guarantee.

The Garda Síochána compensation Bill has been promised legislation for some considerable time, an issue that has been brought into sharp focus by the recent tragic killing of Detective Garda Colm Horkan. In the current circumstances, and given that during the Covid-19 crisis gardaí were the subject of a certain number of attacks and threats in the course of their work, and that almost 5,000 gardaí have been laid off duty as a result of injuries incurred during the course of their duty, I ask the Taoiseach if that c…

Arising from the issue raised by Deputy Pearse Doherty and I previously regarding the manner in which various lenders treat their customers, I ask the Taoiseach if it might be possible at this stage to establish some kind of common ground whereby all the lending institutions treat their customers equally under the same rules. At the same time, might it be possible to try to get parity with our European colleagues in respect of the interest rates charged?

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this important legislation. I congratulate the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, on his appointment to his new portfolio. I wish him and his Cabinet colleagues well on the job ahead. They will face many challenges that are not new to us; we have experienced them in the recent past. However, there is a difference. The current situation was unexpected and without warning. We had no control over the tsunami that came ashore and washed everything before it. It remains a serious th…

I could see the facial expressions of Deputies changing. I threw that remark in for a bit of levity, as the former Ceann Comhairle used to say. This support can breathe new life into a sector that is suffering badly at present. It is timely. In the aftermath of the general election, we did not have a Government formed for quite a long time. Everybody in the country is glad to see that a Government has been formed at last. It is crucially important that we retain and maintain the confidence of the people and the bus…

I cannot see the expression of the Acting Chairman's face in the way I normally would. That puts one at a disadvantage because one cannot see the nuances one would normally expect. The key is that it should go on for as long as it takes. That does not refer to the speech but that might be useful some time too. The point to be made about the fund is its accessibility, workability and cost. By cost, I mean the costs of the loans to the businesses concerned. It is no good saying we have to take our handling fee out of…

We move to the Independent Group.

We now move to Sinn Féin. Deputies Maurice Quinlivan, Johnny Mythen, Dessie Ellis and Thomas Gould will share ten minutes. Will they be sharing equally?