Tá áthas orm labhairt ar an mBille seo. I record my congratulations to Tipperary woman, Roberta O'Brien, who has become the first woman in the history of the Naval Service to achieve the rank of commander. That certainly needs to be acknowledged here. As I understand it, Roberta joined the Permanent Defence Force in 1995 and was part of the first ever intake of female personnel in the Irish Naval Service along with her classmate, Orla Gallagher, who is now a lieutenant commander. It is great to see this development…

I strongly oppose this measure. It is unnecessary and very divisive. What we need at this time is collaboration and consultation with businesses, many of which are on their knees. I wish to point out that the vast majority of pubs and restaurants have been very responsible and have gone beyond what has been asked of them in terms of putting safety measures in place. The Bill is unnecessary and very heavy-handed. The legislation is very ambiguous and I can see legal problems arising as a result. It is not well thoug…

The social distancing occurs naturally. There is a total disconnect with rural Ireland and what is happening there. This will cause more division because people have gone out of their way. There is a very small element in big cities where there were breaches and which needs to be monitored. I absolutely agree that they should be monitored, but rural businesses should not be punished. They have already been punished severely. The lack of collaboration and consultation has been shameful. Why was the roadmap for reope…

I welcome the important opportunity to speak on this piece of legislation, which I feel is over the top and unnecessary. Some of the major concerns with this Bill have already been outlined by my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group. I wish to echo many of those concerns as a rural Deputy for Laois-Offaly. One of my most significant fears concerning this Bill is that we are entering uncharted territory with a set of legislative proposals that may end up doing irreparable harm to personal freedoms and social co…

I am happy to speak on this important but technical Bill. As we know, the purpose of the Bill is in part to provide access to funding sources by enabling the State to participate in European instruments designed to deal with economic impacts of Covid-19. One of the main instruments is the European scheme for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency, SURE. With respect to this scheme, as I understand it from reports in the Financial Times , at least 18 member states have submitted expressions…

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is first.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I wish the new Minister well in his role. No doubt there will be many challenges to overcome. The Bill provides for increased notice periods for notice of termination served on tenants in rent arrears in the residential rental sector during the emergency period and up to 10 January 2021. It is an acknowledgement by the Government that many thousands of people, including families, will have been going through an extremely stressful time as the original end point…

Under the European Commission's Next Generation EU package, it was proposed that the budget for the EU just transition fund would increase from €7.5 billion to €40 billion over the period 2021 to 2027. The proposed allocations to all member states would then increase as a result. Through a series of parliamentary questions I tabled on this matter, I have been able to establish that as part of this proposed increase the allocation for Ireland was set to jump from €29.9 million to €176 million. We now know this is no…

I thank the Taoiseach for his response and welcome the fact that the midlands will be prioritised. However, I must outline my concerns with the whole just transition process again. It is not coming together quickly enough and I do not think there is a sense of urgency. The midlands were only recovering from the last recession and then we were hit with this. It is going to have a detrimental effect and I believe we need to be focused on creating a huge number of jobs and not just a handful here and there. When I rai…

I fully support the urgent need for the bus and coach sector to receive grants. This is another sector that is coming under attack. I raised this issue with the former Minister, Shane Ross. I was disappointed that no representatives from this sector were on the tourism task force, which made no sense. We need urgent grants but we also need a harmonisation of the VAT rates because competitors in the Six Counties are at an advantage. Our operators in this part of the island are losing out and I would like that addres…

I welcome the publication of this Bill, which puts the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment on a formal statutory footing. That should assist in providing a greater degree of certainty for the recipients of the payment. It also allows the Minister to provide for urgent needs payments by way of supplementary welfare allowance. This is particularly important because under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment to help meet essential, once-off expenditur…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Laoghaire as an rún seo a chur os ár gcomhair anocht. Aontaím leis an rún seo go huile agus go hiomlán agus beidh mé ag tacú leis. Tá na fadhbanna leagtha amach ann ach tá na fuascailtí ar na fadhbanna sin ann chomh maith agus is maith liom é sin. The Young Irelander and patriot Thomas Davis once said, "Educate that you may be free". Those words still ring true today, but they ring true in the sense of liberation from a cycle of disadvantage and poverty that too many of our childr…

I have raised this matter before and I have serious concerns. The pragmatic step to take would be to bring in a moratorium. I raised the issue with the previous Minister with responsibility. It is only fair and right because many additional substitute teachers will be needed. There are schools that are falling only marginally short of the number of pupils required to retain teachers. If they lose that valuable teacher, it will put them in a difficult position. In my constituency, I am aware of one school in Ferbane…

Last year the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform allocated €1.6 billion to agriculture, food and marine. A significant amount of that allocation was aimed at delivering the high level goal of income and market supports to underpin the rural economy and environment. That particular amount was €874.1 million. What was surprising to me, however, was the fact that a further €356.7 million was spent on agricultural policy and strategy. I fully accept that we need to have good and robust policies in place but do…

I welcome the fact that up to 300,000 children may benefit from this change but, again, I have a concern that we may be putting the cart before the horse in not addressing the other issues and trying to repair the other cracks in our health service. I am aware, for instance, that an agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation on contractual reform, which was concluded last year, was supposed to increase investment in general practice by approximately 40% or €210 million by 2023. I would like to know exactly how m…

On page 46 of the programme for Government there is a commitment to ensure that work is done with the HSE to improve care. Currently, adults with disabilities are unable to attend care services. There was much shock and dismay among many families last week when they heard from witnesses at the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response that services may not resume until next year. I ask the Taoiseach to prioritise this matter. Adults with disabilities have regressed significantly and they have been disrupted. We need t…

While the marathon meeting of the European Council ended in a resolution of sorts, it served to expose the significant variation in perspectives that exists within the Union about how we will tackle the crisis. There is a view, especially among the so-called frugal four, that the rest of Europe is somehow irresponsible or that we need to be minded like financial children while the financial adults in those states make the grown-up decisions. That is deeply insulting and does not bode well for the sense of solidarit…

Tá áthas orm labhairt ar an mBille fíorthábhachtach seo. The purpose of this Bill is to make particular amendments to the Credit Guarantee Act 2012 to support the needs of businesses to access additional finance as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. I support that principle. However, I have some concerns. In May of this year I engaged with the Minister for Finance on the need to expand the way in which the credit guarantee scheme has operated to date. At that time, I made the point that microenterprises and SMEs rela…

It will just be two of us.

Tá áthas orm deis a fháil labhairt ar an rún seo a bhaineann le cúram leanaí. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Funchion a rinne sár-obair ar an rún agus a chuir é os ár gcomhair. I commend Deputy Funchion on highlighting what is clearly an issue of major importance and relevance for thousands of working families across the State. For too many of them, the cost of childcare is equivalent to a mortgage. It is a significant financial burden that many families struggle to carry. In budget 2019, it was announced that in…