That concludes this session. Deputy Burke wishes to make an announcement regarding the Order of Business.

I am informed that the changes relate to providing a slot for the social welfare brief so Members will be able to ask questions. That is my information at this point. Perhaps, subject to clarification, we can return to that point. Deputy Flanagan, you are here to take health.

I am just clarifying matters. We have finished with regard to finance and we are moving on as agreed. I thought the next section was on housing but it is health.

You are correct, Deputy Shortall, that it was not mentioned this morning. I understand that the Minister for Finance was to deal with finance and social protection and that did not happen, so an extra slot is being included for social protection. It is extra time. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I think that is in order. There was a meeting of the Business Committee earlier. I call Deputy Nash to make a point of order.

We are dealing with the Department of Health.

I have advised the House that there will be an additional session. I understand that the only change that has been made is for an additional session to debate the social welfare measures, and while the proposal was not brought before the Business Committee, it has been agreed to. That is my understanding of the matter. Más féidir leis na Comhaltaí éisteacht liom, is féidir liom soiléiriú a thabhairt. We have dealt with the Department of Finance and we will now move on to the Department of Health. Thereafter, with t…

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I support what has been said about sections 4 and 5. I believe much of section 4 is technical. I have the most serious concerns about section 5. I already expressed those this morning. I see that there is a sunset clause, which I welcome, and that the legislation will come back before the Dáil for discussion. That is a learning from last week where we did not have such a provision in the other draconian legislation. It would be remiss of me, given my previous life as a psychologist quite some time ago, to allow thi…

I welcome the provisions of the section, namely, that there will be no evictions and that there will be a rent freeze. They are limited, however, and like Deputy Bríd Smith, I could not let the Bill pass without saying we have asked the Government repeatedly to declare a housing emergency. Now it will be done for a limited period. Various Deputies, including from Sinn Féin, my group and others, have repeatedly asked the Government to declare an emergency and to take appropriate steps, but it refused to do so. There…

The Minister of State should correct me if I am wrong-----

I am always open to correction in the Government's time but not in my time. The payment increased from more than €200 million, to more than €500 million, to more than €700 million, ultimately approaching €1 billion. That is not to mention the top-up payments. If anything showed how unsustainable and ridiculous the housing policy was, it was that we were housing the homeless in hotels and housing tourists in our homes. While I welcome the Bill, there are a number of things that concern me. We have a three-month time…

I want to clarify. I thought only the proposer could speak. Is that not the case? Are we all allowed to make a quick contribution?

That is fine. I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I support the amendment submitted by Deputy Darragh O'Brien. It is important to have scrutiny and I already made that point a week ago. I also support the amendment in Deputy Barry's name regarding the year. I realise the difficulties for the Government with it going for a year, but it makes no sense that we have a separate time limit regarding mental health and other extraordinary powers up to November, while we are limiting these powers to three months. Perhaps some Mini…

I call Deputy Catherine Murphy, who is sharing time with Deputy Gary Gannon.

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis an Teachta McNamara. Tá mo chuid ama srianta, so díreoidh mé ar an ábhar atá faoi chaibidil againn. Is é sin an Bille Sláinte (Caomhnú agus Cosaint agus Bearta Éigeandála Eile Ar Mhaithe Le Leas an Phobail), 2020. Ní mór dom a rá go bhfuil gá leis an reachtaíocht. Tuigim é sin ach tá mé thar a bheith buartha faoi na míreanna atá anseo ó thaobh na gcumhachtaí breise atá i gceist don Gharda Síochána, do na dochtúirí - ní hamháin do na dochtúirí ach d'oifigigh sláinte - agus don Aire,…

Gabh my leithscéal, a Cheann Comhairle, but I do not understand the logic behind that.

It is no reflection on you, a Cheann Comhairle, but this is rushed legislation. We understood that it had to be passed by 5 o'clock because of health and safety and because of staff. I appreciate we are trying to reach a consensus but it is becoming more difficult. We have talked about the definition section and agreed to it, but it should not have been agreed to. I support Deputy O'Callaghan in respect of the definition and now it is up to the Seanad. That was already clearly defined in the 1947 Act, whereas the w…

I welcome the attempt to come to some agreement on this. I used the word "draconian" and I will use it again. There is no doubt in my mind that this is absolutely draconian legislation. I have read it in detail, which has been difficult because of the manner in which it was presented to us. I know the staff are under pressure. It is almost impossible to have a rational debate about this in the limited time we have. We came prepared for 5 p.m. Looking at the Bill now, I have no idea why an arbitrary date of 9 Novemb…

I welcome the fact a Cabinet sub-committee has been set up and that we are not forming another committee. However, I want to put this matter in context. Most Members are in receipt of a letter from 4 March from Fórsa on capacity. It stated: The scale of the closure orders in relation to primary care is a significant shock to the overall health system in the west. It is unprecedented and I have not witnessed that scale of service closure in my two decades working as a trade union official... More patients will end u…