I am sharing time with Deputies Carroll MacNeill, Higgins, Durkan and O'Dowd. The Minister effectively answered my question. I represent the constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, which includes north Roscommon and south Donegal. I was concerned that the students in Boyle, Ballymote, Ballinamore and Ballyshannon might not be treated equally to students in Blackrock. I am glad the Minister outlined to the previous speaker that the process of national standardisation will introduce a fairness to the calculated grade system. …

Our thoughts are with the families and friends of all those who, unfortunately, have passed during this crisis. I hope that we can all work together to mitigate the issues around this crisis. Last week I raised with the Minister personally the challenges faced during this crisis by members of the Irish Dental Association. One of the many challenges concerns the availability and affordability of personal protective equipment. Dentists are competing with so many different groups and are finding it very difficult. The…

I will give the Minister time to answer questions but I welcome the supports she has provided and the work she has done with all the various stakeholders. One area on which I wish to focus is the rural economy, particularly farming. It is great to see that the marts will open up in June. There are many issues regarding rates, insurance and the costs the marts will have to bear. What dialogue has taken place with the marts' managers and the marts' representative bodies to achieve this?

On a point of order, Deputy Cahill is absolutely right. A lot of the time we are not informed about what happens at the Business Committee.

These are unprecedented times.

I will be sharing time with Deputy Alan Farrell and Deputy O'Donnell. I am sure the Minister will be relieved to know that I will not be addressing the issues of bogs or turf cutting in my speech. I will reiterate some of the key points the Minister, Deputy Madigan, made about the Government's response to the Covid-19 crisis as it relates to the arts and culture. As we all know, we are faced with an extraordinary public health emergency. We have had no option but to slow the spread of the virus and to protect the h…

I am sharing with Deputy Higgins. I also welcome the Minister to the House. It has been an extraordinary and difficult time for students, parents, teachers and all other stakeholders. I have a few questions to which I would like a reply. There has been much talk from the post-primary advisory group that has been established. How has that worked? Will the Minister be using such advisory groups to address the problems of reopening schools? It has been a very stressful time for students and there is huge anxiety and s…

No, in our country. Fine Gael is a united Ireland party, as the Deputy well knows. If we had that extra time, it might ensure that we could keep all the various stakeholders, tourist facilities and students going. Extending the season for six weeks would give people that well-earned break they need, especially students.

In the limited time I have I would like to get a progress report on the N4 Castlebaldwin roads project. When will it be completed? Has Covid affected the completion date? Members of Leitrim County Council have contacted me. The cathaoirleach of Leitrim County Council advised that the local improvement scheme in County Leitrim is substantially reduced from what was hoped for in 2020 to €250,000. The council had been hoping for closer to €400,000. Could additional funding be made available? I welcome the announcement…

I thank the Minister and all of his team for the work they have been doing in very difficult circumstances over the past few months. I express my condolences to the families and friends of those who have been lost to this awful disease over the past few months. My mother is 92 and is in a local nursing home. She happened to be in Sligo University Hospital. As someone who have benefited from the system, I pay tribute to all of the front-line staff and all of the stakeholders for their work and perseverance in a very…

It is good to be a backbencher again in the Dáil, although the Seanad was not such a bad place for asking questions. I want to ask about local authority housing developments under the Rebuilding Ireland programme. Are they all back up-and-running throughout the country? During the past ten or 15 years the local authorities were buying houses on the open market and getting developers to build houses for them. Is there a change in policy now whereby the local authorities are getting involved in building local authori…

Will the Minister give the House an update on the Government proposals on any assistance that might be available or is being considered for commercial tenants with their rents? I have noticed that many commercial tenants are very fearful, especially of the international landlords, who do not seem to be as forgiving as the local landlords. They seem to have a bottom line, which does not take into consideration the Covid-19 crisis, and for the commercial tenants I know, that could have a huge impact. We have seen the…

I wish to raise one last issue, which has been going on for the past ten or 12 years. When I first got involved in the local authority in Roscommon, permission for one-off housing on the bad land in the area was much easier to obtain. In my constituency, which now includes northern Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo and southern Donegal, there is an issue with one-off housing. We have been to Brussels to try to get it resolved. My colleague on the council, Councillor Seán McDermott in north Leitrim, has been to the fore on …

I hope to speak for five minutes and the Minister of State might answer my questions for five minutes, if that is okay. I very much welcome the Minister of State's address to the House on the impact of Covid-19 on Irish tourism and his plans to support the sector in recovering from this crisis. First, we must think of the more than 1,300 people who have passed away from Covid-19 and our thoughts are with their families and friends, as well as those who are recovering. Again, I want to pay tribute to the front-line …

With regard to "Normal People", my father comes from Tubbercurry where much of it was filmed, and I like to think we are all normal people down there. Deputy Harkin will agree with me that one aspect we need to look at is that approximately 90% of businesses in Sligo are tourism-related. I found it incredible that one hotel was paying between €75,000 and €175,000 in rates a year. This is absolutely enormous. Sometimes as politicians we do not fully grasp the tourism industry. Not alone does it provide employment, b…

Do I have ten minutes or am I sharing with Deputy Durkan?

I have ten minutes then. I thank the Minister for coming in here today. Most importantly, I want to express my sincere condolences to the families and friends of those we have lost to this awful disease. I also want to pay tribute to the front-line staff of all professions. Their vocation has been incredible. I know they have the support of the entire country in trying to help them out. It is encouraging that the reproductive rate of Covid-19 has fallen even further to between 0.5 and 1. The one issue is the cluste…

And Deputy Peter Burke as well.

I thank the Acting Chairman for his generosity. I ask the Minister about large-scale capital infrastructure projects such as the new building extension at Summerhill College, Sligo, and other classroom infrastructure projects in my constituency such as the ASD unit at Abbey Community College, Boyle. The projects were announced by the Department last year. Will they be able to commence construction next year? Will the funding be in place to ensure that these types of projects nationwide can be developed despite the …

It is great to be back in the Dáil. I wish to thank the people of Sligo, Leitrim, south Donegal and north Roscommon for their great welcome and for electing me to Dáil Éireann. I come from Boyle, north County Roscommon, the location of a by-election in which George Noble Plunkett was elected. It was arguably the most important by-election in the country. He was an Independent who subsequently joined Sinn Féin. My grandfather supported him. Some people have stated that there is no Fine Gael Deputy for County Roscomm…