I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Paul Murphy. Does the Minister's Department plan to review its handling of the outbreaks of Covid-19 in the meat-processing industry over the past year with a view to improving preventive measures?

Major problems have been exposed in the meat processing industry by the Covid-19 crisis. Under the watch of his Department there have been a total of 108 outbreaks with more than 3,000 cases in meat factories themselves. Some 50 workers were hospitalised and 12 required care in intensive care units. SIPTU estimates that one in four meat workers got Covid-19 and that in turn seeded thousands of cases in the community. That was evidenced by the high level of community transmission in counties and regions where there …

I am very happy to hear the Minister acknowledge that it is a high-risk workplace because when this issue was originally raised in the Dáil by my colleague, Deputy Paul Murphy, he was dismissed by the Government and was accused of trying to smear the work of meat plants. For months there were no inspections whatsoever at the factories and the virus was simply let rip. During the summer, when the virus was finally in decline, the Government turned a blind eye to the meat plants yet again by cutting back on testing a…

It is interesting to note that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Attorney General are on the same page when it comes to liquid natural gas, LNG, and fracked gas. The Minister said, "I remain as determined as ever to halt the damage caused by fracking." While saying he opposes LNG and fracked gas, he also says that he cannot do anything about it. The Minister has said that he cannot ban fracked gas because it is an EU issue, and he cannot ban LNG because it is subject to an energy security review. I suggest to the …

The programme for Government commits to supports for early childcare schemes but the reality is that the current schemes have failed to provide parents with affordable, accessible and meaningful childcare. Like housing, it would seem that the Government does not understand what affordable means for real people. We have the second lowest rate of expenditure on childcare in the OECD, for starters. The current scheme has glaring problems. It allows providers to opt out of the national childcare subsidy scheme. It has …

I have a question about Mary Queen of Angels Schools 1 and 2 in Ballyfermot, which share the same campus. Both applied for the hot meals scheme. One school was successful but the other was not. The fear of the boards of management and the principals is that there will be a preference among parents to enrol their children in the school that provides the hot meals and that the other school will be left behind. I concur with the points made by Deputy Murphy about the inequality of the system and the unfairness of runn…

I accept the Minister of State's bona fides in terms of this being an important issue about which he feels passionate. The more improvements we can make to the programme, the better. The anomalies must be addressed, however, particularly the situation where one campus is shared by two schools in Ballyfermot, Mary Queen of Angels, and one school gets the hot meals while the other does not. That creates tensions, divisions and problems, particularly as some members of the same family are getting fed in school while o…

I thank the Regional Group for putting forward this motion. We need to go back a few years to the major row that occurred in this country between the Government and the population over water charges. What came out of that was a vote in this Chamber in 2017 which fudged the whole issue. The main fudging was in respect of the question of public ownership of water utilities. There is a Bill before the House to provide for a referendum on the public ownership of water to avoid, forever, the possibility of the privatisa…

I thank the Taoiseach for his report. I note that he did not mention any discussions on climate change. Yesterday, the International Energy Agency gave its starkest warning yet. Exploitation and the development of new oil and gas fields must stop this year. No new coal-fired power stations can be built if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the net zero emissions target by 2050. My concern is that although I would love to be in a position to welcome the announcement yesterday by the M…

The Taoiseach's statement looked very much at the policing service of the future but in order to make reforms for the future we must also look at the past, and at the record of GSOC in particular. Sinn Féin has already referred to the inquiry on behalf of the family of Shane O'Farrell. I want to talk about two other outstanding issues on behalf of families. When someone dies either in police custody or directly at the hands of the police, invariably they are from a working-class background. That has been notable th…

So, it is GSOC.

It makes sense if you are a Palestinian.

I think we are all grateful for the success of the vaccine roll-out so far. Long may it continue that there is no problem with supplies, vaccinators or any of the other organisational issues that have to be implemented. I echo what has been said about a people's vaccine. To restate the obvious, none of us are protected until all of us are protected. The crisis in India has not abated. In fact, the Indian variant is now causing significant worry throughout the UK. Does the Taoiseach think it is good enough for the m…

That is not what is listed.

Yes.

He has left.

Go raibh maith agat. The question of the national maternity hospital is hugely important to women in this country. If men could get pregnant, it might have been answered by now, but it certainly has not been answered. On 25 May, it will be three years since people voted overwhelmingly - more than two thirds - to allow women make a choice on the question on termination of pregnancy in their own country, once and for all. The legislation that came in after that allows for limited access to abortion. On the question o…

When will we get answers from them?

When do we expect the agreements and discussions to be completed?

Could we get an answer from the Minister for Health?