I have one more question. Will the funding for the sewerage schemes come to Irish Water, which is now responsible for the treatment plants that already are there? I know that Irish Water has responsibility for the Kilcummin scheme. Will the funding for these schemes come to Irish Water or can the Minister of State say how the Government is proposing to fund them?

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this very serious matter this evening. As I have stated several times, this proposal claims to be about national oil reserves or whatever but it is about raising carbon taxes and increasing the amount the ordinary punter will have to pay. The ordinary motorist, farmer, haulier and bus operator will have to pay more. All of those sectors will have to pay a sum to provide a shiny new fleet of electric buses for Dublin. Rural Ireland is being asked to pay for that. I should…

I thank the Social Democrats for giving us the opportunity to talk about workers. I thank all of the front-line workers who went to work at the height of the pandemic in hospitals and nursing homes. I commend all of those who went to work, including nurses, doctors, staff in canteens who bought food to patients, home helps who visited houses and tried to keep older people going, shop workers who held the fort while working behind counters to ensure people could get food and supplies and all of those who worked in t…

Why do people have to eat a meal to be able to have a pint? It is not right or fair.

It is doing no good for the coronavirus. Publicans and their workers are being discriminated against.

I am very far away but I am still here anyway. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy English, on his new post. I wish him well. I had a lot of interaction with him when he was at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. I hope we will continue to work positively on behalf of the people we represent. First, I have to declare that I am a small publican in a small rural village. Publicans around the county of Kerry, and indeed countrywide, are very concerned about comments made by the new Taois…

If we are to have any relevance here in Dáil Éireann, we must represent and talk for the people who cannot talk for or represent themselves. I am very concerned about people not being allowed into nursing homes to visit their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters or other loved ones because in many instances those residents cannot talk about or highlight issues for themselves and they need family members to do that. I recognise that most nursing homes are positive in that regard and are doing whatever they can for th…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing this very important motion before us. We all hate the word "eviction". Every human being is entitled to have a roof over his or her head and this Dáil should strive to ensure that everyone has a house. For their part, 99% of landlords are good operators who treat their tenants properly but there are also rogue landlords who do not subscribe to that approach. We must remember that in many instances the State takes 50% of the rental income in tax. If something could be done on th…

I too will be voting for the measures later today. I am only sorry there are not a lot more, because people out there need more help and more funding. I am hopeful the July stimulus package will include such things as a positive reduction in rates or a waiver where people have accounts showing they did not make any money at all. A suspension is out of order because that is only kicking the can further down the road. A waiver or a reduction is the proper way. Small and medium businesses will have to get grants and i…

I too wish the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, all the best in his new job. I look forward to working with him and we will certainly have a lot of things to sort out. I thank the health workers all around the country, but especially in Kerry, the people who worked in the hospitals in Tralee, Cahersiveen, Dingle, Kenmare, Killarney, and indeed, Bantry, which is very close to us and deals with many patients in our general district. I ask the Minister, as I have asked several times before, to deal with the need for expandi…

It is clear to me that Deputy Micheál Martin, leader of the Fianna Fáil Party, is going to be elected Taoiseach in a short while. I wish him well and wish his wife and family all the very best. I wish Deirdre Gillane, his special adviser, all the very best in her role as adviser to the Taoiseach. Even though we started out in the same party, I cannot support Deputy Martin today, because I believe our party, the Healy-Rae party, has remained close to the people who elect and who voted for us. Fianna Fáil has distanc…

I do not mind.

I will start off because Deputy Collins has a slower car than mine but he is coming now. I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words on this topic. As we all know, there has been a lot in the media and on the television over recent weeks on the subject. My youngsters at home pointed out to me that black lives matter. We believe that all lives matter. Even the small unborn babies that we fought so hard for in this Chamber also matter. All people all around the world, whatever nationality and whatever breed o…

The Minister will not have time to answer me verbally, so I ask that she write to me with the answers. First, I want to highlight the fact that Skellig Michael is closed. This has had a devastating effect on the entire locality around Ballinskelligs, The Glen, Portmagee and the entire area around Waterville and Cahersiveen. Boats and ferries licensed by the OPW are idle. Businesses are doing nothing and will do nothing even though the pubs and restaurants are supposed to open at the end of the month. I appeal to th…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about certain issues regarding health. I put it to the Minister that the testing is not yet satisfactory. If the Minister does not have time to respond to me verbally perhaps he will respond in writing. I ask the Minister to confirm or deny that there is just one laboratory doing the testing for all the country. Is the Minister aware there are other companies supplying test kits? Even Abbott is supposed to have supplied much of its product to the United States of America. It…

I thank the Minister for taking this debate. He referred to flooding. There has been a lot of talk over the years that climate change is the cause of rivers flooding and that it will create more havoc. I do not agree. Our rivers are flooding because they are not being cleared. As the Minister knows, farmers cannot clear rivers due to the fact they will lose their farm payments because of cross-compliance. The River Flesk is one such example in Kerry. I am very grateful to the Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, w…

If the Minister sends me an answer in writing, I would be very grateful.

Today we hear travel agents and airlines advertising that Spain will be opening up on 1 July. In that same vein, I call on the Taoiseach to open hotels and pubs on the same day as restaurants and cafés on 29 June and to give the tourism industry in Kerry in places such as Killarney, Dingle, Cahersiveen and right around the Ring of Kerry the chance to avail of a few weeks of tourism. We all hope the schools will go back in the last week of August so we are only talking about six to seven weeks of a window. If we do …

I thank the Minister for being engaged and responding as best he can to every query. He seems to be on top of everything. For my part, I emphasise that schools need to know as soon as possible what the picture will look like at the beginning or September or in late August. There is going to be a massive difference. Are we going to reduce the rule to 1 m as opposed to the 2 m we have at present? We need to know what it is going to look like because people are worrying that if it is still 2 m distancing, all classes …

I need to talk to the Minister again about nursing homes. I asked him on the last occasion when I was in the House for questions to open up the nursing homes to family members so they can visit their elderly parents or relatives in a controlled fashion. The situation is becoming clearer. The worst aspect of the whole pandemic was that elderly people, after having spent all their lives working for their families, working for their communities and working for our country, had to die alone, with nobody holding their h…