We are opposing this section on the grounds that the entire section skews the whole point of mental health practitioners existing in the first place unless this amendment is passed, which would be a major contribution to it. I find it an extraordinarily draconian measure that a one-person tribunal, made up of a barrister whose profession is to deal with legal issues, would make a determination on somebody whose mental health was challenged and who was taken against his or her will into a mental health institution. …

Will the Minister please explain why he thinks this is not relevant to the emergency legislation? What means will he put in place to deal with crisis pregnancies where women cannot attend their doctors because of possible contamination and where it is impossible to get a doctor's visit which includes two visits within three days? What we are asking for here is telemedicine. Will he explain why all of these amendments were ruled out of order and what provisions he intends to put in place in their stead?

I take a certain amount of pleasure in discussing the European Union in a post-Brexit situation because pre-Brexit, People Before Profit in particular, north and south of the Border, was accused of having a pro-Brexit stance because we made criticisms of the European Union. We made criticisms of the European Union on the basis of its militarisation, its policies towards migrants, its bailout that wrecked the Greek economy and its subsequent bailout that wrecked the Irish economy and brought this country into a drea…

I agree with all Deputies that the response to this issue includes all of us as individuals and our personal hygiene, and that how we conduct ourselves is crucial. If I start coughing, please do not panic. I do not want a national panic on television because a Deputy is coughing. I have a cold. We should be discussing the overall response of the State to this serious crisis. In the public eye, and at the briefing earlier, the HSE has been downplaying the seriousness of the lack of capacity to deal with a significan…