I have a four-year-old son who attends our local preschool. I value the work that Ms Catherine Hickey, Ms Clara O'Dwyer - I believe they might be watching us - and others do. I wish to make a few points briefly. Frustratingly, my time is limited. Regarding the access and inclusion model, AIM, scheme, there are too many children in preschool who need to be referred to CAMHS for an assessment after an alarm bell rings only for that assessment not to happen before the child enters primary school. I saw this happening …

I thank the Minister of State for being in the Chamber to take questions and contributions from Members. Fianna Fáil fully supports the Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020. This Bill provides for the institutional reorganisation of aviation regulation in Ireland. The legislation will contribute to best practice approaches and ensure the aviation regulator is fit for purpose for emerging challenges over the coming decades. Currently, aviation regulation is split between the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, and the …

I listened to Deputy Gannon very respectfully put his points to the Minister. He asked solid questions and got solid answers. It was all very respectful. However, minutes earlier, I could not believe my ears while listening to Deputy Guirke. His final contribution was to state "I do not care if the Minister does not like Sinn Féin or does not like me, but she should show a bit of respect and fairness for the people of Meath West." When did she say that she does not like the Deputy, Sinn Féin or Meath West? I am not…

I have certain points to put to the Minister and I ask him to reply within the four minutes I have in order that my colleagues can make their contributions. I wish to again bring to his attention the issue of rural villages without sewers. I know he has been very engaged on this issue as Minister. There are several such villages in County Clare. It is a real inhibitor of rural life. It is a standout issue in the village of Broadford, which is in my neck of the woods, just a few miles from my house. The village cann…

I thank the Minister for taking this Topical Issue debate. Just a few streets away at the GPO on O'Connell Street, there are copies of a beautiful yellow and green glossy brochure available in the atrium. It is a report An Post commissioned a few years ago, namely, A New Vision for Post Office Services in Ireland. Within it, there are different subsections, including one relating to the consolidation of post office services, which is lovely flowery language for shutting down post offices. In my constituency of Clar…

The people of Broadford are taking this matter to heart. Last year, the previous year and the year before that their post office was viable, operational and functional. It was only when James O'Brien retired that the issue of consolidation or closure arose. Once this post office closes, it will not reopen again and 190 years of operations will be wiped out. This will hollow out the village and damage it forever. In terms of costs and sustainability in the long term, it costs in the region of €70 million per annum t…

I wish to use my time in a question and answer format with the Minister. First, it is good to see that Ireland was top of the league table in terms of the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in recent days. We may be at the lowest ebb of Covid-19 at the moment. We were in a huge battle. We have seen ICUs and the pressure our whole country is under, but there is also huge cause for hope. I thank the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and his staff, who are helping to keep that supply chain of vaccines open to us. I have a few que…

First, I want to raise the issue of hauliers. They are still encountering difficulties and challenges when they present themselves at ports. I am going to use some jargon here. When they arrive at a port, they must prepare a customs entry form and obtain a movement reference number, MRN. This is basically getting pre-clearance. They then need to complete an entry summary declaration, ENS, which is essentially a security document and nearly a duplicate of the document they have already completed. Finally, they must …

On a point of clarification, I said that the students who had come to the University of Limerick were on Erasmus placements. They are actually enrolled in the college, but my point still stands. I just want that corrected on the record.

Like many here this evening, I was watching the inauguration of President Joe Biden for a short while. I wish him every success. In some ways, we could say we are almost seeing one of our own being sworn in. President Biden definitely has Irish blood running through his veins. Last night, he recalled his grandmother once said: "Remember, Joey Biden, the best drop of blood in you is Irish". Hopefully, therefore, we can all look forward to good relations with the United States during the four years of President Biden…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I will be taking four minutes of that speaking time. Every sinew of effort in our country at the moment is being ploughed into the physical health of the nation. As a result of engaging with young people in my constituency at the weekend and last week, I have become extremely concerned about their mental health. I have been talking to them on Facebook and Instagram and via email. They are extremely concerned about the uncertainty that lies ahead for them in the context of the Stat…

I thank the Minister. In the few seconds left, I wish to refer to broadband, which is still an issue for schools such as Doora National School in County Clare. There is a significant push to reignite the discussion relating to ASD units. These units cannot just be imposed on schools. They need to be bespoke units and I ask the Minister to have her Department continue to look at that matter.

I too pay tribute to the many people working in our front-line health services at this time. All that has been said by senior management in the HSE in the last few days indicates just how stark this battle is. This is not all about vaccinations. It is about people playing their role by staying at home, staying safe and keeping out of harm's way, and making that mammoth task a little easier for those at the front line of our health services. I offer my sincere condolences to families who have lost loved ones over th…

I have a number of questions to pose and I ask the Minister and Ministers of State to engage with me on an over-and-back basis. I commend the effort. Earlier, I spoke about the immense effort being undertaken by our front-line health services. I now want to speak about Covid vaccinations and the immense effort being made to roll them out. With regard to vaccinations for GPs, in Clare, we are watching how GPs in other counties are getting the all-important Covid jab. In recent days, I have seen how Bantry General Ho…

We see other hospital groups, such as that in west Cork, bringing in GPs but it is not happening in Clare. They will have to wait an awfully long time. I know it is an operational issue but I ask the Minister to look at it. With regard to vaccinations reaching hospital groups, we were all delighted to see vaccinations been rolled out in Dublin in recent weeks but it took two and a half more weeks for it to come to the mid-west group of hospitals. A nursing home in County Clare has a Covid outbreak. All of the patie…

There are exactly 14 days remaining of this year. It has been a very tough year for businesses. How many businesses in County Clare benefited this year from the restart grant and restart grant plus schemes administered by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment?

I thank the Minister of State for providing those details. I understand there were a number of problems early on with the restart scheme. The software linking the Department to local authorities did not function or was not up to scratch immediately, which delayed roll-out to some extent. There are still a number of outlier businesses throughout the country. Eamonn Andrews, a constituent of mine, is one of them. He is a photographer who goes around to schools photographing children who have made their communion or c…

I am most concerned about the outliers, as I said. I ask that the Department look at putting in place a mechanism to assist them in the new year. Sean Kilkenny and Eamonn Andrews are two examples. There are also the bookkeepers who only have a racecourse presence. They do not have a bookkeeping office but appear with their leather bag at the racecourse. They are another group who are missing out. Bed and breakfast owners are another group where people felt they lost out early on when the Covid supports were kicking…

I wholeheartedly support the Bill and amendments such as the one put forward by my colleague, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, that add strength and substance to it. To abuse and harass someone online is one of the most odious acts anyone can commit. It says a great deal about the negative attributes of someone's characteristics. I have seen it happen many times at home. I have seen it happen on WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook. It happens in the realms of social media, often hidden behind a cloud of anonymity. Others do not h…

I am briefed that there is to be a five-minute statement from the Government before 20 minutes of questions and answers on a rotational basis. We may even get around to a second round of questions. There will also be a final concluding statement from the Government at the very end.