Shame on the Taoiseach.

Can I ask something?

I am glad to support this motion to nullify and rescind the statutory instrument or blank cheque that was given to the Minister for Health last week. I thank the Kerry publicans who came up here today to fight their case, including the O'Callaghan brothers of the Fáilte Hotel in Killarney, Pat the Tatler Jack and the other publicans who left Kerry early this morning and will not be back until late this evening to make a case and try to bring common sense into the industry, which should have been there all year. The…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this important matter this evening. Elderly people have been massively impacted by this virus. All those months they had to isolate or, to use the new word, "cocoon" at home have changed their lives utterly and many will not be the same again. I was hurt recently when the Government suggested elderly people needed to be careful. One was not sure whether it was because they were going to give the virus or get it. I resented and rejected that comment by Government. The peop…

I thank the Defence Forces for their massive efforts and work in their peacekeeping duties over the years. They are held in high regard all around the world. The recruitment, retention and remuneration of the members of the Defence Forces have been the subject of extensive public and parliamentary debate over many years. One of the main issues the Defence Forces members continue to face is low pay. The Defence Forces personnel are at the bottom of the public sector pay scale. The main problem is the ban on industri…

Sinn Féin voted against the publicans last Thursday.

I have almost 140 children who cannot access school transport tickets-----

I would appreciate it if they could get them. All systems are closed down. Surely the Minister is not trying to achieve the 50% reduction on buses by denying children and parents the right to get their tickets as they always have done. Is that what is happening? Will the 50% reduction rule be achieved by not giving children the tickets they have always got? That is not fair or right. The Minister is from Kerry, as am I, and I am sure she must be inundated with calls about this matter. It is not fair to achieve the …

I am glad to get the opportunity to contribute. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this very important topic to the floor of the Dáil, which gives us a chance to debate this very important issue. Cancer screening is so important and the fact that it was delayed or cancelled for so long means that there are people lining up for services. I understand it is the people who already have cancer who are being screened but we know the story. There is stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 and stage 4, and when a person arrives at stage 4,…

Honestly, only that I can see the Ceann Comhairle and other Deputies around the place I would have thought that I was in Russia or some other dictatorship with what is going on here and what is being proposed in this Bill. I say to Deputy Bruton that he is a wizard. After six months or more with rural pubs being closed, now he is suggesting that it is the publicans who should bring forward the rules and ideas so they can open their pubs. At the same time, he is backing legislation here to penalise pubs whenever the…

I support Deputy Howlin's amendment. However, I have a concern with it as well in that he says it would be up to the publican to demand a court hearing. Why is the venom all being directed to the publican? For all other citizens, the Garda issues a summons and prosecutes. That is the form the law takes with every other offence. I do not see why it should be up to the publican to go to the expense of calling or demanding a court hearing. If the crime were so serious, then it should be up to gardaí, the superintenden…

I will. I am sorry, but I am cross with what is going on and what is being attempted in Dáil Éireann today. I am suggesting that if the crime is so serious and a garda, on the instructions of the Minister, says that the rule is broken in such a fashion, there should be a court organised immediately and the defendant, the publican in this case, should be given a chance to defend himself and to present his story as he sees it. Sometimes, when someone arrives on the scene, he may react in a different way from how he w…

We were supposed to be in the second session.

First, I must declare that I am a school bus operator. My family have been doing it since 1956. Since the announcement that the capacity of the buses should be reduced to 50% - I heard the Minister of State talking about transport - many children going to national schools and secondary schools cannot get their ticket to go on the bus. There is no answer to any phone call or email. Many children who applied and paid the money have not got their tickets yet and those who were entitled and applied on the basis of a me…

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about this very important topic this evening. For the record, I will be voting against this Bill because I can see that what is being put in front of us is not fair or clear. As of yet the Government has published no rules or guidelines for the opening of "wet pubs", as it is calling the ordinary pubs of rural Ireland. Some two thirds of the pubs in Kerry are still closed, although I am told that two thirds of the pubs in Dublin are open. It is very unfair. There are no cl…

I will return to the subject. There is no difference at all between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, or between this Government and the last Government. It does not matter who is behind the wheel. Their agenda is to close down the pubs of rural Ireland. The last Government did it with the help of the former Minister, Shane Ross. We know what it did. Now this Government is at it again. It will not allow honest, hard-working publicans to open their doors to the people, such as the poor man on the side of the hill who has n…

I am sorry.

It gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to ask a question of my former colleague from Kerry County Council, on which we worked together hand in hand for the people of Kerry, for the first time as Minister. It has to do with the hiring of teachers who may be asked to work in different schools. This also affects other workers. Surely the one Garda vetting process should do. Under the regulations as they stand, someone must be vetted two or three times if he or she will be working in two or three different …

There is a serious jobs crisis in Kerry. I wish to raise the closure of BorgWarner in Tralee. This bombshell occurred a couple of days ago and took the workers and the town of Tralee by surprise. It was akin to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. I thank the Tánaiste for already showing an interest in this serious issue. I must explain that this amount of jobs being lost in Kerry, which has a population of 150,000, is equivalent to 2,100 or 2,200 jobs being lost in the population of 1.5 million in the greater Dublin area…

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I highlight as well that very recently we lost 45 jobs in Kenmare when Jam closed its outlet. In the tourism industry we have lost hundreds of jobs: bus drivers, pub workers and many others. I ask the Government to probe urgently the following possibility. The Tánaiste has said he is doing this, but I ask the Government to leave no stone unturned in getting BorgWarner or another company to use this very skilled workforce, with many years' experience, and the facility there in the…