I am sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Patricia Ryan. I will take ten minutes and she will have five minutes. I have said to the Minister on a number of occasions, and I think he has accepted it because it is a statement of the obvious, that we are facing a very difficult winter. The onset of Covid has been tragic in many ways for our health services, not just in terms of trying to battle Covid and save people's lives but also because of the impact it is having on non-Covid care across a range of areas. We nee…

I thank the Acting Chairman for the advice. I commend Deputy Gino Kenny on moving this Bill and ensuring that we have this important and, in many ways, historic debate. I also commend the former Minister of State, John Halligan, who, as people know, had done a significant amount of work on this issue, as well as all the campaigners Deputy Gino Kenny mentioned, who have been doing a lot of work on this issue, understanding its complexity and advocating their position from a compassionate perspective. For obvious rea…

On a point of order-----

On a point of order-----

You let other people in.

I was contacted by a constituent both of mine and the Minister of State named Natasha and she asked me to read into the record her experience. She states: I want to tell you my story and I hope that the Government will soon reverse the decisions it has made to underestimate the need for women to have some support during their pregnancy. I have two gorgeous little boys. I surprisingly fell pregnant for the fourth time. My partner and I lost our first baby to a miscarriage in 2016. I am sure you can imagine the first…

I thank the Minister of State for her compassionate response and her understanding of this issue. I raised this issue with the acting Chief Medical Officer myself at a meeting earlier this week. I completely understand the infection control measures that are in place in hospitals and the need to maintain social distancing and keep people away from hospitals to protect newborns and pregnant women. We all accept that this is a very challenging time. At the same time, we need to consider allowing critical and compassi…

I propose that we take five minutes each. I would be happy with that.

To be helpful, I will take five minutes.

I commend Deputy Colm Burke on introducing this Bill. Speaking as the author of three Bills that were subjected to the dreadful amendment that they would "be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months", that was not some form of legislative purgatory as most if not all of those Bills withered on the vine. I hope this Bill will not be one of those, but I would not hold my breath. We will see what happens. I welcome this timely Bill. Regulation of professional home care is needed, particularly as our popu…

We had no debate on the plan. That is the point. We have asked for that.

It might surprise the Taoiseach to learn that we meet those workers.

That is the plan we have not even debated on the floor of this Chamber.

It is a substantial plan.

Can I come in on this? I have some information on it.

With respect, it is not just the Covid-19 committee. The business of the House is agreed and included in that, when we got notification last Friday morning of the business for this week, was the work of the Dáil and the Covid-19 committee.

We were due to have NPHET, the HSE and the Minister for Health in tomorrow. We were told today that the Minister for Health, the HSE and NPHET are not now coming in. We have had no debate whatsoever on the Government's plan announced last week-----

The Covid-19 committee was due to debate that plan specifically. Now, however, the Minister for Health is not making himself available, and nor are the HSE or NPHET.

Yes.

Exactly.