This is important.

We have given the Government a lot of space and worked with it on schools. Be serious now, Taoiseach, and answer the question.

Show some respect for the support you have got from all parties on schools. That support is a fact.

Talk to the Minister, Deputy Foley.

On education and schools, the cross-party support has been enormous.

You are answering a question you picked yourself. It was not the question I asked. I asked about substitution.

Is that the message to Deputies when they work with the Government? Is that the thanks they get?

On the same issue, it was a disgrace to see-----

As the Minister of State knows, there are few families in Ireland that have not been affected by breast cancer. As Deputy Andrews said, it affects one in nine women. This is an enormous proportion of the population when we think about it, particularly if we were to put all of those women in one place. We must also remember that one in 1,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. It is incredibly important during breast cancer awareness month to raise awareness of the importance of being breast …

Like Deputy Gould, I briefly raise the case of Mr. Nadim Hussain, who is on hunger strike and ask that the Minister for Justice give it her attention and see whether she can assist. School leaders and boards of management feel isolated. They can hardly get hold of the HSE and they feel completely abandoned by the Department of Education. The changes in respect of self-isolation were expected. Making children who were asymptomatic and had received negative tests self-isolate was completely disruptive and did not mak…

This matter has been raised a few times, although I am not sure if it was raised very recently in the Oireachtas. The primary medical certificate is primarily about adapted vehicles. That is the most common reason people require it. It is relevant where people have a disability or suffered a long-term or permanent injury that means they required a specially adapted vehicle. It is crucial to people's independence, dignity and quality of life. The Minister of State knows there have been developments in this area. A S…

I suppose there is good in that response, but it does not deal with all the issues. This process does not seem to be running at full steam. While there has been some progress made in the backlog, the community medical doctors are also doing many other jobs which puts demands on the resources. The other issue which has not been addressed is the delay in the appeals, which is a key part of the process. People are waiting lengthy periods of time for their appeals to be heard, which is also holding them back, and many …

Once there is somebody to respond to the Minister of State.

Notwithstanding what the Ceann Comhairle said, it was an elegant navigation of Standing Orders a few minutes ago. The Government amendment is a particular device and I think it is the most remarkable use yet I have seen of it. The Government regularly comes to the House to say it will look at something in a year's time. It is its way of avoiding voting against something. In this instance, the specific purpose of the Bill is to bring forward the date of something that is going to happen anyway. The response of the G…

Joe Murphy.

We have to fight for everything. That is the phrase I hear from every parent of a child with autism. It is the case for all the families of children with disabilities, but especially so for those families who have children with autism. They must fight for every inch, every service and every appointment. They must fight for everything. To be honest, I have not seen that change in all the years I have been in politics, whether on the council or in the Dáil. The Government must do so much more to ensure that children …

With regard to the legislation, I believe it makes sense to have these functions within the Department of Education. It is logical and the feedback I get from school completion projects and from education welfare officers is that it is logical. There are some issues and concerns that we need to watch but that is not a reason not to do it. When they were in Tusla, some education welfare officers who had to take, for example, a section 29, felt it was useful, in order to convince parents they were on their side, to s…

It has never been great to be a renter in Ireland. These days being a renter in Ireland is like being on a treadmill in that you are trapped, stranded and handing out fortunes of money, very often for substandard accommodation and, worse, you are always in an uncertain position, subject to a notice to quit under the many loopholes throughout tenancy legislation in this State and, when you do get a notice to quit, finding another property means queuing alongside many other people at appointments. We have seen the re…

What we needed this year was a budget with vision and ambition and this is not what we got. There are so many areas where the potential for fundamental change and a radical shift in policy were missed. There is nothing at all for renters and a wholly inadequate response to our waiting lists. There is a complete failure to deal with childcare costs. I welcome that the campaigners for fairness for childcare workers have secured progress here, and I have long supported that, but parents will still be paying a second m…

In the short time I have, I will focus on aviation, albeit in the context of tourism. Cork is a great destination and I hope everyone will take the time to visit. The aviation sector has taken a ferocious hit during the pandemic, there is no doubt about it. It is a resilient industry. Indeed, I think we can all expect that many of the big airlines will return to very considerable profitability quite soon. In the meantime, however, we need to ensure that our airports and workers are supported and protected. They mus…