I believe we are elected here to do a different type of work altogether. We were elected to represent people that need caring or that need to go into hospital. Our hospital service is in a ramshackle condition in Kerry and west Cork. The cost of living is going up and no one is saying anything about it. The cost of fuel, petrol and diesel is doing likewise. How will old people pay for fuel to heat their homes this winter? Will Government Members increase the fuel allowance? No, they will not. They will not even tal…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this very important matter. I thank Deputy Mattie McGrath and his office girls for helping us with this motion. More than anyone else, I look forward to every door being opened in the hospitality sector. Whether the businesses are pubs or small restaurants, they have been closed for far too long. The longer they remain closed, the greater the risk that many of them will never open again. That is a fact. Attitudes are changing and, possibly, people are resigned to buying a…

I welcome this opportunity. I am disappointed with the legislation, which is being rushed through. No less than anyone else, I wanted the hospitality sector to reopen fully and for people to be spread out. Clearly, this Bill is discrimination of the highest order. There was no consultation. Maybe some few words were had with the heads of the vintners' organisation and so on, but there was no discussion with the rank and file. Who will monitor this? Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, stated that GPs w…

We have a different climate altogether. In a couple of more weeks-----

-----people will get pneumonia if they do not get the virus, and they will probably die of it if they are going to be kept outside for much longer.

I am concerned about the Bill. I want to especially thank the Minister of State for bringing the Bill forward and at least we will have a cap. When I hear what Deputy Denis Naughten has come out with, that it will be six years if a couple are named on the deeds, that is not what we signed up to at all. That is bad. Take a farm with the value of €500,000, for example. It would be €7,500 per year per €100,000 so that is €37,500 per year for the young fella or the wife or whoever is trying to fund the person in the nu…

I ask the Minister of State for clarification. If one person is in a nursing home and the other person is at home and not availing of the fair deal scheme, is the assessment based on 7.5% of the value of the farm, house or whatever, or is it 3.75%? Does the three-year or six-year cap apply for a couple? Will the Minister of State please clarify that?

On foot of what Dr. Tony Holohan said this evening, the Minister has lost all credibility. He has given different reasons for introducing this Bill but Dr. Holohan said that he did not advise and was not advising that people under 18 years of age should be let into indoor hospitality. That tells me the Government is only making it up as it goes along. What is sad about this, and I support this amendment on the sunset clause, is that the people who will be affected by this are, first, the young people who could not …

Of course the sequestering of carbon will have to be counted. My worry from the outset was that farmers would not be allowed the carbon they sequestered. I contend that many farmers are sequestering more carbon than they are producing. I worry that the calculations are supposed to take seven years to account for what farmers are sequestering and how efficient they are. Many farmers are very efficient and have gone to extremes and much expense so that they would not be damaging the environment. That has to be recogn…

I am finishing up. It is not even worth the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's while cutting across me. I will finish up on that. The Government has done nothing at all for them and the way it is going, it will not have done anything for them.

I also want to speak on behalf of the fishermen of our country. I refer to fishermen operating right around our coasts from Castletownbere, Dingle and Berehaven and all areas along the west coast, whether in counties Mayo, Donegal or wherever. These fishermen have been badly let down. Being let down is now being compounded by other issues as well, including the sacking of the former European Commissioner, Phil Hogan, and two Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This all happened while the important CAP t…

I will. I am finishing up. It would be remiss of me as an elected representative if I did not defend people from coastal communities to ensure they survive. They are at a crossroads now, like the hospitality sector. Who is going to be affected again only our rural areas? We do not want any further demise of those areas because they are gone down and gone back far enough.

I am glad to get the opportunity to support this amendment. As I understand it, the property tax was meant to be a residential tax. It now looks like if the farmer has a henhouse or a dog house, those hens or dogs will be charged the property tax as well. The amount of land around the property is to be increased to a hectare, which is 2.5 acres, which is totally unfair. This is like the fair deal scheme, where the farm is assessed but for everybody else, a residential property is assessed. We are taxing the farmer …

May I raise a point of order?

Was the clock stopped while the vote was going on-----

-----and while the argument was going on in regard to the Order of Business?

Does this mean that my question and those of the other people on the list today will have to wait until the middle of September to be raised? I wanted to ask the Taoiseach if he would extend the time for the registration of rights of way beyond 30 November.

It needs to be extended at least as long as the virus has affected this country.

A Cheann Comhairle-----

I am asking the Ceann Comhairle to review the process we have at the present time for people getting in under questions on promised legislation.