I raise the matter of increased cardiac waiting lists at University Hospital Waterford. I received a reply to a parliamentary question last week, which showed that the number on inpatient waiting lists has increased from 300 at the end of 2018 to 730 at the end of 2020. More worrying is that the outpatient waiting lists increased from 1,057 to 1,700 in the space of two years. The number of people waiting over 12 months trebled. When are we going to get a second catheterisation laboratory? Can the Tánaiste confirm t…

The Bill that we are proposing does not oppose regulations. We all accept that in a public health emergency, there will be a need for regulations to make sure that public health restrictions and interventions are put in place and that there are penal provisions, enforcement and punitive measures to ensure compliance with, and enforcement of, those restrictions and public health measures. The difficulty and challenge that the Opposition has had over recent months, as I have said directly to the Minister for Health a…

I wish to use my ten minutes for over and back exchanges with the Minister on questions rather than by making a statement. My first question is on older people. Over the past number of weeks, we have been given different timeframes as to when those aged over 70 will be inoculated. It was March when we expected the AstraZeneca vaccine would be used for the over-70s. Obviously, we all expect the timeframe to change now but we have been told that it could be April, May or June. Can the Minister confirm, for the purpos…

I accept that there are supply issues but the middle of May for all of the over-70s to be inoculated is a long time for those most at risk to wait. This will cause concern for many older people. I know that the GPs are ready to play their part as, we are told, are pharmacists. There are community vaccinators I am sure who can also play their part. It is very difficult when we hear that we were hoping that it would be the end of March and now it is the middle of May, and may be longer. My second question, which I ra…

The Minister's response does not answer the question at all. The question I posed concerned whether these people are going to be considered as a distinct cohort in their own right. I think they should be. The Minister has obviously looked for a clinical assessment. I do not know what that assessment has been. While it does have to be underpinned medically, these are people who we all recognise are doing a lot of work. The people they are caring for need to be vaccinated of course, but those people also cannot be ca…

I hope we will get progress on this issue, and I think everybody accepts it is an urgent issue. My final question concerns category 6 key workers. The decision to not use the AstraZeneca vaccine for those aged over 65 years means that the people in this key worker group will be the second next category to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. There is still no definition of who is a key worker. Has that work been done? I ask this question because we are being asked about this issue. We have many key workers, …

First, I commend the Labour Party on bringing forward this motion. I join the Minister in extending my solidarity to all the families of those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 in recent months and especially in the past month, when the number of deaths has been very high. There is no doubt whatever that we need a change in approach. Sinn Féin supports a maximum suppression strategy. We want to get to a point where we get the numbers down as low as we possibly can and thereafter to keep them low. If we are hones…

In the three and a half minutes available to me, I want to raise a number of issues with the Minister of State and give her time to respond. I will put my questions as distinctly as I can and I hope to get a response. Everybody is affected by what is happening at the moment and it is causing real challenges and difficulties for every section of society. Some are more impacted by it than others. Representatives of the Psychological Society of Ireland have told me that loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress and the e…

The programme for Government commits to a technological university for the south east. I am sure the Tánaiste will agree with me that this is a hugely important project for everybody in the south east. Two issues have arisen over the past number of weeks which need clarification. The first is that there is a lack of certainty in respect of where the headquarters of that new university will be located. There is a lot of speculation, which I do not believe is helpful. We need clarity. There is a lack of clarity in th…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton. As my colleague, an Teachta O'Rourke, has set out, Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill. It makes sense to streamline the set-up in this area and for there to be a single, stand-alone regulator and commercial air traffic control operator. There are many other issues that could be addressed in the Bill. These include a graduated fines system to create a more robust sanctions process, the creation of a stakeholder forum to ensure the inclusion of all parties, includ…

This motion seeks fair play. Time and again the Government says that the Opposition does not come forward with solutions. We do come forward with solutions, but the problem is that the Government does not like them. The Government does not listen and it does not act. The Minister's party has no regard for what I would consider to be fair play; if it did, it would support this motion. There are two central requests in this motion which should be accepted and implemented by the Government. One is that the fuel allowa…

No. I was the first to come in and put my hand up this morning-----

No, not on this issue.

On a point of order, please, a Chathaoirligh.

Very rarely, a Chathaoirligh, will I take to my feet and raise an issue in relation to fairness of process.

You have to accept that I was the first person to put my hand up this morning when you came in.

For whatever reason, my name was not on the list.

It is a point of order-----

-----because I have important issues to raise, the same as everybody else.

When people put their names down-----