I did not say that I did not trust the Minister. I said this State has no legitimacy in that regard. The Ceann Comhairle should tell the Deputy to withdraw the comment.

I would like to add our voice to the suggestion that we need a debate on the move to level 5 restrictions. It is essential that we have such a debate. Hopefully, it will be conducted in a substantial and collaborative way but we need to have our concerns on the record. We also need a debate on our schools. Massive anxiety was created yesterday when the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, highlighted the fact that schools may not be able to reopen. We need a discussion about that. It was reported in the…

It was reported in the media.

I wrote to the Business Committee last week to ask if we could have a discussion about schools and it was suggested that could happen in a couple of weeks. That needs to happen this week.

The Social Democrats strongly object to tomorrow's business, in particular the debate on the commission on mother and baby homes being sealed for 30 years and the manner in which this is being brought before the House. It has been rammed through the Seanad and there has been no pre-legislative scrutiny on it. Inevitably, it will face a guillotine given the time allocated to the debate. It is an incredibly important Bill and if it is passed as it is, it will be an act of political cowardice. We will not be complicit…

No, he has not.

He has not answered the question pertaining to these particular records.

The Taoiseach should answer the question.

My time is short so I will get straight into it. Yesterday was a fairly extraordinary day and €18 billion is an extraordinary figure for a small island nation. The insertion of €18 billion into the economy over the next year should and will have positive ramifications but I cannot help but feel, now that the dust has settled somewhat, that yesterday's budget was a lost opportunity. The budget will help us keep our heads above water and survive in many ways, but nothing about the measures announced yesterday was in …

I raise a matter of concern in our schools. There are families with children in school but the parents have a severe underlying health condition. They feel they are being failed as there is no remote learning option for students in such cases. For example, in the case of a family I am dealing with, the mother, who has a severe form of blood cancer, has two teenage children of schoolgoing age who cannot access remote learning options. How can the State step in to support these people and provide remote learning opti…

I begin by apologising for not making my contribution in the language that we are gathered here to protect. It is an issue of which I am conscious, and I have committed to improving my Irish language ability. It will be a great honour to be able to stand up in this House and address Ministers with more confidence. I will be doing that in the weeks and months ahead. I am going to speak about the Bill and comment on some potential issues, topics and concerns that have been raised by members of the Irish language comm…

We in the Social Democrats support this Bill and we commend Deputy Munster on bringing it forward. It is timely and incredibly appropriate that we should be debating it today. I will use some of the short time available to me to acknowledge the passing away today of Fergus McCabe, a trade unionist, organiser and man of immense standing in Dublin's north inner city. If colleagues do not know him by name, they certainly will know him by his work. Fergus was one of the architects of the Gregory deal and was involved i…

I thank the proposers for tabling this motion, which is very important, especially one week from the budget. Effectively, we are talking about the very essence of a republic. It strikes to the heart of the role of the State. I believe the role of the State and the very essence of a republic is that it wraps its arms around citizens in times of greatest need. There has never been an occasion when citizens have needed the protection of the State more. I will discuss all that this incorporates over the next seven minu…

I thank the Minister for Education and Skills for joining us. As she is aware, the Fórsa trade union school secretary branch, which represents more than 1,000 school secretaries in primary and secondary schools nationwide, has indicated that notice of industrial action will be served shortly to more than 1,000 individual schools and the Department of Education and Skills. School secretaries will hold three one-day work stoppages on Friday, 23 October, Monday, 2 November, and Friday, 13 November, followed by an inde…

On the pay offer that was made, at a meeting of the Workplace Relations Commission last week, the Department repeated an offer of a previous 1.5% increase per annum which the union had previously and rightly rejected. Department officials said they could not agree to a Labour Court referral, despite a commitment made by the former Minister last year. It is not fair to tell school secretaries who are living off €12,500 a year that they should wait until the pandemic is over when they have been involved in this dispu…

As time is limited, I will raise an issue that has not been raised by any of my colleagues across the Chamber. On 30 June, the Arts Council advertised a tender for badly needed communications advice. Many of the major agencies in the country applied in good faith. The tender documentation stated the successful agency would commence work in August 2020. Even though the assessment and evaluations must have taken place, the Arts Council sent out a notice last week stating it had terminated the competition without awar…

My question pertains to the League of Ireland and it is very specific. What budgetary commitments will the Government be making to ensure that League of Ireland football clubs can sustain themselves into 2021 and beyond?

I do not doubt for a second that we want sport to be funded and to continue in this country but the League of Ireland was in a precarious place long before the pandemic hit and it is now at a point where we do not know whether there will be a League of Ireland next season. I have spoken to Shelbourne and Bohemians, which are in my constituency, and to clubs throughout Dublin. They have told me that they have asked for a financial package of approximately €5 million which will keep them afloat into 2021 and ensure t…

With the greatest of respect, I was also at the committee meeting to which the Minister of State referred. The FAI was quite clear that it has applied for a grant but there is no guarantee it will get it and allow that money to filter down to the League of Ireland. This is a time sensitive matter. Most clubs would usually sell season tickets in December or January and if they are not sold, clubs will not be able to reopen their doors. People use clubs for a variety of reasons and some go to their clubs just to have…

The comments, criticisms and potentially the frustration I am expressing are not aimed personally at the Minister but rather collectively, at the Government of the day, the Department and indeed the ideology that has left our system of education crumbling at the seams at this moment. I was interested in the Minister’s opening address. Yesterday was again a very difficult day for leaving certificate 2020 students. She rectified the situation at the end when she acknowledged that this leaving certificate year had bee…