The Minister said earlier that the daily case numbers remain stubbornly high. Does he accept the correlation between the daily case numbers and hospitalisations, ICU admissions and even deaths is no longer what it once was because of the vaccination programme under way? Does he accept the vaccination programme has changed the risk matrix? Does he believe that, because of this, it is now possible to look at a more nuanced strategy for reopening, where we could look at it on a county or regional basis? No one is aski…

With the permission of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I will use my three minutes for a questions-and-answers session with the Minister, as was the practice last week. I know the Minister is frustrated about the delay in the vaccine roll-out and he is being unfairly criticised for some of that delay. I know, too, that he and other colleagues in the Government have been engaging with companies and other countries about other avenues to secure additional vaccine supply and that this has been happening since last week. Th…

Would the Minister propose that we do that work? Obviously, we would not use a vaccine unless it had been approved by the EMA. I agree with the Minister's point in that regard, which he made well last week, but we might make that proposal.

We know that a lack of supply has been an issue in rolling out the vaccine. We also know there are extra supplies of vaccine in other countries. I ask the Minister not to consult with the task force but to mandate it to secure unilaterally extra supplies of vaccine for Ireland. The European Commission has said we are free to make these deals. Germany has done its own deal with Pfizer and it was followed by the Danes. The Danes and the Austrians are now in the first movers group with Israel for future vaccination ro…

I too would like to thank Deputy Duncan Smith for his initiative in suggesting this debate and I thank the House for accepting it. I also thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Simon Coveney, for his contribution. This year, 2020, is a landmark year for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and all the efforts that have gone into that noble quest for so long. It has been 75 years since the use of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the Minister noted, it has been 50 years since the NPT came int…

I ask the Minister to update the House with regard to information on or an increase in the purchase of State bonds, savings certificates or prize bonds by citizens in recent months. My second and related question asks whether he is considering any new savings schemes. That is not a reference to a potential new special savings incentive account, SSIA, but, rather, to a new saving certificate or something in that vein.

I thank the Minister for his reply. The information he provided confirms what we are seeing throughout the country and in every lending institution. There is a dramatic increase in savings happening at this time. Earlier in the year, I read that €1 in every €3 earned was being saved, compared with a more usual savings rate of €1 in every €6 or €7. That dramatic increase is also happening in the case of State bonds. The Minister made the apt point that if one is saving with a traditional lending institution, one is …

I thank the Minister for his response. There is time to plan ahead and make sure we find a balance between the increase we hope to see in private spending and the increase in public spending arising out of decisions that have been made. We want people to go out and spend money again but we need to make sure it is happening in the local economy and is supporting local businesses to get back on their feet. We do not want it to be counterproductive by leading to hyperinflation in the domestic economy, which would undo…

Too many people have died from this virus and the Taoiseach is correct that it is very serious. It can and does kill. The lethal nature of the virus is nowhere near as serious as it once was. Taking average figures provided by the Central Statistics Office for April, 74 of 1,000 cases tragically led to deaths. In October, five of 1,000 cases tragically led to deaths. Of 1,000 cases in March, 192 led to hospitalisation. Of 1,000 cases in October, 50 led to hospitalisation. This virus is not as lethal as it once was,…

I thank my colleague for sharing time. I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on combatting domestic violence. Taking that issue alone, these statements could be entitled, "Why there should be no more national lockdowns". If one suffers from domestic violence, the national lockdown makes one a prisoner, a hostage in one’s own home. We have all read the statistics indicating the incidence and reporting of domestic violence have increased this year. Imagine for a second that one suffered abuse, physical or verb…

I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for sharing his time. I thank the committee's Chairman and other members for the important work they did at a critical time for this country. I also thank the officials who helped them in that work, including the compiling of such a detailed and good report. I wish to make four points about the report. First, it is important that the committee worked concurrently with our experience of the pandemic. For major events such as the one we are still experiencing, we need at-the-time rep…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on rural and community affairs. We are less than two weeks away from, we hope, exiting level 5 lockdown restrictions. There are 11 hours scheduled for statements in the Dáil this week, all of which statements are on important issues. I will speak on all of the issues, but when I do, I will be speaking about Covid. We cannot discuss the issues that are facing and challenging our citizens today without talking about Covid into the future. It is disappointing that time was not schedu…

I thank my colleagues for sharing their time in this important debate. I welcome the opportunity to speak on community safety and preventing crime. In my contribution to the discussion on community and rural affairs, I made the point that 11 hours of statements are being taken in the Dáil this week. These are all on important issues but it is impossible to discuss any of them if we are not discussing Covid-19 and what we plan on doing after this current phase of level 5 lockdown ends. It is vital that we have an op…

I think it is me, according to what the Whips told me.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for sharing time. I welcome the budget announced by the Government yesterday. I will pick up on two statements in yesterday's budget in the time I have. The first comment was made by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, when he talked about our budget commitment to our strategy being a bridge to a better future. Of course he is absolutely right. This is bridging finance, and we must remember that. These are not permanent changes in how we budget or spend as a coun…

Following on from Deputy Calleary, we will be sitting on the Security Council for the next two years. It is likely to be dominated by the events of the day, as it always is. It is important that we do not lose sight of our traditional responsibility that we have always held in the United Nations to lead on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. I would like to hear from the Minister on that particular point.

Often these issues around disarmament and non-proliferation come to the fore when individual state actors are concerned but it is the bedrock of the treaties that underlie all our efforts in this area which is more important because they establish that consensus in international law by which we can approach any country or any entity that might be acting against that very strong norm that has been built in the international system for so many years now. After I tabled this question, Deputy Duncan Smith from the Labo…

I thank the Minister for welcoming that. As he knows, I used to work in this area before I came into politics and it is full of acronyms and technical terms that can sometimes confuse people as to what the intent is behind what a country is trying to do with a treaty but this work is very important, as are the non-governmental organisations, NGOs, which work in this area. This country has a good history of supporting NGOs and other international state bodies and of doing research, doing work with civil society and …

I wish to ask the Minister for an update on the international financial services strategy. It is not specified in the question, but I was hoping to focus on the regional aspects of the plan. I might make a few additional points when I comment again.

I thank the Minister of State. This is an exciting portfolio and I wish him well in it. A lot of the work depends on how much the Minister of State's senior Minister delegates to him, but I have no doubt that he will be very generous in that regard because I know how busy he is. As the Minister of State mentioned, I was one of several Ministers with responsibility for the previous international financial services strategy, IFS2020. A key commitment of that plan, which has been retained in the current Ireland for Fi…