Somebody in the Minister's Department decided to send applicants from overcrowded conditions to remote hotels, some of them still overcrowded, where they could not socially isolate and where they share bathrooms and shower facilities, communal kitchen and shared meals. Somebody thought it was okay to pack a bus with 120 residents and send them down to Kerry from a centre in Dublin when the centre in Dublin had Covid-19 cases. Testing began on 14 April for residents in Cahersiveen. Four tested positive but it was no…

I was quite amazed earlier when the Minister said that it is not the norm to look after private nursing homes or to provide them with PPE. My thought immediately was that I do not think it is the norm also to have 80% of nursing homes in private hands. That statement is a bit glib, to be quite honest, as is the whole plan and roadmap to come out of the lockdown as it relates to our senior citizens. Some 740 senior citizens have died. That is a startling figure. The figures given to us this morning show that 118 of …

Yes, and I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. We should acknowledge that tomorrow is May Day, International Workers' Day, and to that end we have taken an initiative in our group to have this building, Dublin City Hall and several other town halls across the country lit up in red in honour of our front-line workers and all other workers. Never has it been more unequivocally obvious the role that workers everywhere play in making the wheels turn around in society. We need to honour all front-line and other wor…

They have not done it.

We are seven weeks into the crisis now.

What about my second question?

I asked if the Minister would restrict companies from liquidating during the period of the crisis?

Last week when we discussed the nursing homes the Minister reassured me that citizens in nursing homes were not being treated differently from other citizens. I am not yet reassured and I remain unreassured, if that is the right term. According to the latest figures from the NPHET, there have been nearly 600 deaths in nursing homes. I noted in today's debate that the Taoiseach stated there are obvious difficulties in nursing homes and sometimes medical directors, perhaps not even a GP or a medically qualified perso…

Cuirim fáilte roimh na hathruithe ón tseachtain seo caite ó thaobh ár dtithe altranais agus na hoibreacha ann. Dá mbeadh an réimeas seo againn ó thús, d’fhéadfaí a lán saolta a shábháil. All of our sympathy and solidarity goes to those who have lost their lives, those who are ill and the families who are facing the consequences of this. I have a question on the death rates in nursing homes. I understand that the most up-to-date figure is 450. Not all of those deaths were laboratory confirmed, but most were. Of the …

I was struck this morning while listening to the eloquence of the Taoiseach when he talked about the 445 people who, unfortunately, have lost their lives. He said they were not only statistics but that they were loved and cared for. I totally agree and our sympathy goes out to them, their families, their loved ones and friends. However, I think there is a gap between the words and the reality. On 12 March I attended a HSE briefing with the Minister. I asked the Chief Medical Officer if we were testing people who ca…

I would like to make a proposal to the House. I understand that the HSE has called for applause for front-line workers at 8 p.m. tonight so I propose that regardless of whatever is happening, whatever amendment is being taken or whatever speeches are being made, we stop at 8 p.m. to applaud all the front-line workers such as health and shop workers - all those who are making such a significant sacrifice.

While acknowledging in this section of the Bill the tremendous and courageous efforts of our health workers, we should also acknowledge all front-line and essential workers, including shop, transport and council workers and all of those who are doing everything they can to help get us out of this crisis. I agree with the Minister, Deputy Harris, when he said that there is no place in the crisis for a two-tier health system. Overnight nationalisation of the health service has been impressive. The Minister has said t…

I appreciate the Minister for Finance is not the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and we will support the measures that he has introduced in the Bill. Deputy Connolly highlighted the need for more Dáil sittings to discuss these issues. This is an area of particular importance to many people. As somebody suggested, we have got rid of a two-tier health system and created a two-tier social welfare system. It begs the question of whether, if €205 is not enough for people to live on and it has been …

I welcome the Damascan conversion of the Government on issues that, before the Covid-19 crisis, were impossible and unconstitutional, such as a ban on evictions and a rent freeze. It is very welcome that these are being brought in now. I do not think anybody should be left with the impression that the housing system that we were operating in before we came into this desperate crisis was anything normal. There was nothing normal about it. In reality, the housing system that we had before the Covid-19 crisis was a di…

I will move it. I have a voice too.

I move amendment No. 14: In page 8, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “ 5 . (1) All Notices of Termination of tenancy which fall to be served during or after the enactment of this Act are hereby deemed invalid and no notice of eviction on any grounds may be served on any tenant until this Act is repealed. (2) All subsequent Notices of Termination shall comply with the minimum notice periods applicable and date from the date they are served after the repeal of Covid-19 Emergency Measures in the Publi…

I move amendment No. 19: In page 9, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “(7) (a) Notwithstanding any of the provisions in this section, all proposed evictions in all tenancies in the State, including those not covered by the Act of 2004, are prohibited during the operation of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. (b) For the avoidance of doubt, this section applies to all Local Authority and Approved Housing body dwellings. (c) For the avoidance of doubt, all Travellers wh…

Amendment No. 22 deals with the formula by which rent pressure zones are guided. As we know, under the rent pressure zones, rent increases are calculated on the basis of the months involved. This amendment proposes that we do not allow those months to be included in the calculation for the rent increase. The formula would mean tenants come out of this crisis with a huge rent increase if the months of the crisis are included. A temporary ban on rents rising may be lifted but having the months calculated within futur…

To add to that, when we look at these amendments, they may look repetitive but each of them clarifies different degrees of professional ability, including pharmacists, surgeons, doctors and nurses. There is a wealth of talent locked up inside direct provision centres that could be freed. As has been said, if the Minister can tell us a different way it can be done, it is hugely important to do so. The commitments that were made in order to help people in direct provision to self-isolate need to be met without any ha…

Tá sé a hocht a chlog.