The Tánaiste knows that the way in which it rotates does not result in the kind of scenario we would want for questions and answers. He knows that. He knows there is a precedent because a former Minister, Ms Fitzgerald, came in here and answered questions. There was a back-and-forth exchange. Therefore, the Tánaiste should not insult us with the throwaway remark that it is our responsibility to deal with this in Private Members' time.

The Deputy is just worried about the greyhounds. He should not worry about this.

Is my time being taken up by this?

The reality is that we were told there was one process, and the one process was a JAAB process. To me, that sounds like everything else was binned and there was a foregone conclusion, which materialised because there was one process and individuals were excluded from it. That is the only thing we can take from what the Taoiseach said during the week. Does the Tánaiste concur with that?

Good process.

I thank the Labour Party for using its time to bring forward this legislation. In 2019, the CSO reported that 18% of people in Ireland were working from home, mostly one or two days a week. These people generally worked in large companies, with home working more prevalent in the multinational sector. The pandemic changed everything. Overnight, whole industries moved to remote working . In July, a survey conducted by Microsoft indicated that 72% of organisations had implemented remote working policies. The latest CS…

I too commend the work of the Garda, especially during the first lockdown when we could see the involvement of the Garda, local authorities, sporting clubs and individuals. It really showed the best of us, as Deputy Eoghan Murphy said, and people's better nature. I share some of Deputy Murphy's concerns about making sure we appeal to our better nature. I believe that people are willing to listen with regard to how we should conduct ourselves during this pandemic. We could see this halfway through the current lockdo…

The central point here relates to misconduct and where the responsibility should fall in dealing with it. The problem is that for so long we have lacked the ability, in the right locations, to deal with things. The judicial conduct committee is not yet in place, or it has not put a framework in place yet. That must be accelerated, as must the judicial appointments process. The issue of that process requires a debate here as a matter of urgency. It is a separate issue, but it is one that is part of our responsibilit…

The Social Democrats cannot agree to the Order of Business. We too wrote to the Business Committee looking for time to be set aside for the Minister for Justice to come in to deal with the process around the appointment of judges, and the most recent appointment. That has to happen and it must happen this week. We concur with the point that has been made about the appointment to the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. That motion is on the Order Paper because we are required to give the appointment our sta…

There is a parallel process-----

On the same issue, there is a parallel process in place here. What weighting is given in that parallel process to judicial experience, for example, which is something the Taoiseach raised here in 2017 in regard to an appointment to the Court of Appeal? It does not appear to have been an issue in the case of an appointment to a superior court. There is a dual process here. Given what the Taoiseach has said about the process, namely, that the JAAB process was the proper route, the one person involved in that in bring…

In 2017, there was a contribution in the House and the question then from the now Taoiseach was about the lack of judicial experience. I would have though it was self-evident that this particular aspect would have been fully interrogated when it came to the appointment of a Supreme Court judge. The fact that the Taoiseach was not made aware that there were other judges who had applied beggars belief. The fact that this process is so deficient is undermining both the House and the Judiciary. I cannot see any other w…

I was reminding the Taoiseach of the point he made.

The DART expansion is very welcome, but I am trying to find out whether there are plans beyond that because there are significant populations beyond the area that is due to be expanded. Indeed, they are not just along that line; they are along the Kildare line as well. For example, the combined population of Naas, Newbridge, Sallins and other towns is in excess of 60,000, which puts pressure on the N7. A more sustainable type of transport is required. Has this been costed?

I will provide an example. Kilcock is not as far from the city centre as Balbriggan, and there can be a mindset in relation to counties and geography. The population there is growing. The turning circle is 450 m away from that town, and it would seem obvious that the doubling of the line there is going to be a prerequisite to ultimately delivering the electrification project. There is a more difficult scenario in Greystones from an engineering perspective, but there is a sizeable population in the area. It is about…

The strategic housing development at Woodbrook in Shankill will suck up some of the increased capacity. I understand the intention is to increase capacity but not frequency. In regard to costs, people living in Kilcock, for example, seeing that there is a much better service from Maynooth, will choose to drive there to access public transport. That puts pressure on car parking spaces and involves making part of the journey in a less sustainable way. The totality of costs must be looked at and that should include, f…

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for bringing this Bill before the House and I welcome the response from the Government in not opposing it and giving an assurance that we will see some action on this issue. As it stands, the enforcement of evictions and court orders is not covered under the Private Security Services Act 2004 and, therefore, does not fall under the remit of the PSA. Evictions and court orders can be carried out by anyone once a court order is issued. No licence is needed, force is permitted if it is deeme…

I also thank the group of Independent Deputies for bringing forward this motion. First and foremost, I am very supportive of balanced regional development but balancing regional development is multi-faceted and airports constitute an important component of that. It is self-evident that as an island nation, we must maintain our connectivity. That is even more important in the context of Brexit. The investment yesterday is important. We have been waiting for it for a considerable period of time and it is very welcome…

It was said earlier but I want to put down a marker in respect of the way the rotation of speaking time happens. Five minutes on a motion of confidence is just not on. The Taoiseach would not have accepted it in the previous Dáil or in the prior one when he was treated very differently from the way we are being treated in this Dáil. That simply has to be looked at. It is not acceptable. We are here to hold the Government to account. The Taoiseach has previously spoken about the importance of having a good Oppositio…

Before last week's recess, I raised my concerns with the Taoiseach in relation to putting in place a robust contact tracing system. We had seen a spectacular failure the previous weekend, when thousands of people who tested positive had to trace their own contracts. We cannot see a repeat of that. When I raised this at Leaders' Questions, I was told that there would be 90 people recruited each week and up to 800 overall would be recruited on the contact tracing side. We were looking for a gold standard in relation …