It looks like many will not be reopening, but for those that will try, a roadmap needs to be put in place. They need to be told roughly when they will get to open their doors again.

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

I want to ask the Minister about the direct provision centre in Cahirciveen. I appreciate that Deputy Niamh Smith asked a similar question. I ask the Minister to be concise, if he can. Seeing as this centre was sanctioned by the Department of Justice and Equality against and without the approval of the HSE or the Department of Health, will the Minister now close that centre and move these people to a safer place? All the world heard them crying out the windows and through a locked gate last night to take them out o…

It was Cahersiveen I was talking about and the Minister has gone all over the country now. May I ask the Minister another question as he will not give me a straight and direct answer?

There are 2.2 million people paying for private health insurance. An eminent cardiologist-----

An eminent cardiologist from Cork, Dr. Cróchán O'Sullivan, has done great work in treating people with heart problems and he is very concerned that only 50% of the usual number of people are now presenting with heart problems or worries about strokes, cancer or hip issues. I am concerned about people who are losing their sight and who cannot get their cataracts removed. What will happen now? We appreciate that private hospitals were taken over and we are not saying the Government was wrong in allowing that. However…

I thank and congratulate the farming community around the country, especially in Kerry, for continuing to work, as it always has in the past, when most other activities are closed down. I am glad that, when we look out the door or go down the road, we are meeting farmers with tractors, jeeps and trailers and that they are continuing to work, carry on and do their bit. There is another thing I have to say that I have said to other Members in the Chamber. It is widely recognised that there is no excess carbon being e…

I too sympathise with all those who have lost family members over the past three or four weeks, for whatever reason. It has been a very difficult time for them because nobody can assist them, grieve with them or go to funerals. I knew a 91 year old man who, when he knew he was dying, said to his son, "Goddamit, there will be no neighbour or anyone coming to the funeral." The son is bothered to this day about it because his father was a grand man. It is hurting many people and families that nobody can help them to g…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about a few anomalies. I thank the Government for many of the measures it has brought in, but we need to trim up a few things to make it equal for people who are not being catered for. Kerry, Killarney in particular, is basically a tourist county. Many seasonal workers who traditionally work from the start of March until the end of October are missing out on the Covid-19 payment. In recent days the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, suggested that they were included, but I d…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this important topic. Farmers, especially suckler and beef farmers, are at a crossroads. Many are not making money. Indeed, they are losing money. We must remember that farmers are not getting payments from Europe as a gift or present. They are supposed to compensate them for not being paid properly and in order that food can be sold more cheaply to the consumers of Europe. We must remember that farmers are entitled to payments because they are not being paid properly …

Farmers in the west cannot afford any cuts, especially those in Kerry who are trying to survive but are not being paid for their produce. We have raised so much about the sucklers. If they do not get some payment in the near future, many of them will close down and have to give up because they are not making a profit. They cannot afford any cut in their payments. Again, it is not a gift or a present like is got at Christmas. It is compensation for not being paid properly for the food they produce.

A Cheann Comhairle, I congratulate you on attaining another term as Ceann Comhairle and I thank you for the excellent and fair way in which you carried out your duties during the last Dáil. I thank the people of Kerry who voted for one of two Healy-Raes, especially those who voted for me. I also thank the people who canvassed for me and who went out and worked for me. I do not call them a team but an army. On one specific evening, 162 people left a place in Killarney and headed off in every direction to help me get…