I thank the Minister. I acknowledge the progress of recent years by the Minister and the previous Minister, Katherine Zappone. However, that burden is still very significant for families and parents across the country. The Minister mentioned the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme but the difficulty with that scheme is that it does not operate outside term time and does not work for many parents. We also have to address the issue of the workforce, not in terms of the workforce development plan but a wo…

With Deputies Cowen and O'Connor. I welcome the opportunity to speak about Covid and I acknowledge the considerable effort made in recent weeks to reduce the numbers since the autumn. I commend the Government, but also health workers, the HSE, other public health bodies and NPHET, on their work. Covid has had a major economic cost, but as other Deputies have mentioned, there are considerable social and non-Covid health costs as well that we must focus on addressing early in the new year. We need a community-based m…

I thank the Minister for her statement. It is a welcome opportunity for this debate at this time in the context of Covid and Brexit. I acknowledge the work the Minister, as well as the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, have done since they took over. I also acknowledge the work of her predecessors, my constituency colleague, Deputy Ring, Deputy Ó Cuív and Pat Carey who served in Departments which laid the foundation for much of the work the Minister is now doing. I acknowledge the work of her civil servants, p…

To pick up where Deputy Catherine Murphy just left off, I agree with much of what she and Deputy Gould said. We are given figures on how many gardaí are available but when one actually drills down, the number available for community policing tends to be a very different story. That is the cause of enormous frustration for communities that cannot access basic day-to-day service at Garda stations. There are many gardaí located in the station in Swinford, for example, but they are all allocated to the traffic corps. I…

Five years ago last weekend, the town of Crossmolina suffered a major flooding event. We were told it was a one in 100 year event. Three weeks later, the town was utterly destroyed in the Storm Desmond flooding event. I know a great deal of work has been done on the flood scheme since then but I want to know where it is at and when we can give certainty to the people of Crossmolina.

I thank the Minister of State for the detailed reply. He has added many complications that were not previously advised. We were given timelines. I acknowledge the work of the former Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, to move this project on and also the work of Councillor Michael Loftus from the Crossmolina flood action group. Since 1989, there have been four what were called "one in 100 year flood events." People in Crossmolina will spend from this weekend until next April or May with sleepless nights, watching…

I am happy to give the Minister of State my support. I do not mean any blight on his response. I am expressing the anger and frustration that will be felt tonight in households across Crossmolina as they look at rising tides and they face into another winter of worry and stress and of not knowing if they will wake up in the morning to feet of water in their houses. We need to move this on. I ask the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, to also push this on in the Department. We need, once and for all, to give the peop…

In many ways, there is a sense of déjà vu about this Bill given that we were here previously, but this time it is real. In seven weeks, Britain will leave and the transition period will be over. This is very much an under-the-bonnet Bill. It deals with the technicalities of our deep relationships and how our people interact. There are very different things involved. The Bill is being debated in the context of negotiations that are still under way between the EU and the UK and against the backdrop of the infamous in…

The restart grant and the restart grant plus have been important for businesses but we need to assure local authorities that they will receive refunds. What are our plans for the grants in the future?

I welcome the fact that the money has been transferred. This is budget season for local authorities. They need certainty on cash flow. The Minister mentioned CRSS. There are huge anomalies beginning to appear. For instance, event companies and food service companies will not be able to access the scheme. Are there plans to review the conditions under which CRSS is going to operate given that it excludes many small businesses?

As the Minister has said, there was a commitment in the programme for Government to have the transitional programme. The Minister, the former Minister, Deputy Ring, and I were responsible for that. I too welcome the decision to include the Northern and Western Regional Assembly in rolling out the next programme. There was a lot of scaremongering around that over the summer. I am glad that commitment in the programme for Government was answered. In the post-Covid environment LEADER may be the only show in town for a…

I hope I get a better response on the issue of pay and working conditions for student nurses than the previous Deputy got on public health specialists. I agree with the points that were made. That is an issue that needs to be resolved. The Minister committed to doing so when he was in opposition. We have a very real problem concerning student nurses on first, second and third year placements. They are the glue holding our public health system together. They are operating on the front line and they are doing a first…

I will say again that some nurses on clinical placements get an allowance of up to €50 per week, but many do not. It is simply not good enough. In the early stages of the pandemic, many of those student nurses were getting a rate equivalent to that of a health care assistant, HCA. That was discontinued. The Minister must reinstate that rate. He needs to deal with this very urgently. As I said, these people are doing a first-class job on the front line. They should be rewarded and respected and they should get paid …

On 19 February 2013, the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, gave a State apology and the Visitors Gallery was full that night of survivors of the Magdalen laundries. It was one of the stand-out nights of my time in this House to meet those women, to see their courage and their strength and to hear of their journeys and how they survived them. Those people are still on that journey. I am deeply uneasy at the haste in which this legislation is being brought through given all of the horrible things that were done and the man…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as an ábhar seo a roghnú le haghaidh na díospóireachta anocht. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this Topical Issue. The Minister of State is familiar with, and I am aware she has met, the management and directors of Ireland West Airport Knock. I know she is fully aware of the situation currently faced by the airport. When one thinks that in 2019 some 807,000 people travelled through Knock airport, this year, at very best, there will be 170,000. That will be a much h…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. Will that €3.5 million be paid out to the three airports in 2020? Ireland West Airport Knock will need €3 million of that alone because that is the kind of loss it is facing. In the context of €10 million being paid to Shannon and Cork airports, I believe €3 million for an airport that delivers over 800,000 passengers is a pretty small ask. I welcome the multiannual funding and acknowledge that. How much of the €21.3 million for the programme for 2021 is broken down t…

I acknowledge the additional €17.3 billion in expenditure that is part of this budget. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Ó Cuív, and I were in this Chamber ten years ago when very serious cuts were being made to expenditure. Unfortunately, those cuts had great consequences but they led us to our current position, allowing us to borrow the kind of money we now need to get through the challenges of Covid, Brexit, climate change and so forth. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been shown that systems can be changed overni…

That is the two Deputies so.

Convert.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis na hAirí agus a gcuid oifigigh as an obair atá déanta acu le cúpla mí anuas. Bhíomar ag caint air seo sna cainteanna a bhí ann chun Rialtas a chur le chéile i lár na Bealtaine. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCathaoirleach freisin agus leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as an obair a bhí déanta ag coiste na Gaeilge, mo chomhghleacaí an Teachta Eamon Ó Cuív san áireamh, chun rudaí níos láidre a chur sa Bhille. Tá a fhios agam nach raibh turas éasca acu go dtí s…