The world is watching this country. Can we imagine if this country passed the legislation in question? It would give inspiration to all the people of Palestine and to the world against oppression and brutality. This country can do it as it did in 1986. Why can we not do it now? What is the difference?

Will the Government publish the Attorney General's advice? Why can-----

Okay. Can the Minister of State overrule it?

Will it be in the programme for Government?

No.

I have two questions for the Minister. My first question is on the July provision. He has stated numerous times that the provision depends on teachers and SNAs making themselves available for a period. What is the uptake? I was contacted by a parent from Lucan who is in a very difficult situation. Her school cannot accommodate the July provision due to remedial works taking place and no SNAs or teachers have made themselves available. I am sure everybody will understand what has happened over the last 13 or 14 week…

My next question is on the pupil-teacher ratio. I am not being parochial but to give an example, in Scoil Íde Catholic primary school in Clondalkin the number of pupils has changed slightly since last September, which means it will lose a teacher next September. The Minister can understand that in September schools will be under serious pressure because of the ongoing public health emergency with regard to physical distancing. In this situation, some of the classes will have gone from the recommended 26 pupils per …

I would like the Minister to explain a reply my party member Deputy Bríd Smith got on the proposed liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal at the Port of Cork. With regard to climate action, this represents a quite substantial shift. Many in this Chamber believed that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were moving away from the concept of LNG terminals. Let me quote material from the talks going on not far from this place: "Both of our parties accept that as we move towards carbon neutrality, it does not make sense to build ne…

It is from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

No, it relates to the proposed LNG site at the Port of Cork.

It is very ambiguous.

It essentially indicates that the memorandum of understanding from the Port of Cork states that it still wants to import the fracked LNG. Is the Government against this or is it the Government's policy to have such a facility not only in Shannon but also the Port of Cork? This is from the Minister's Department.

The Minister and I have spoken about the issue of July provision and special needs education weekly. I do not know whether the Minister saw the report on the RTÉ news on Tuesday. It was heartbreaking to see those two families in that situation. It was terrible to see the stress and anxiety parents with children with complicated needs are going through. They have no outlet or routine. It is very difficult. Not having that routine is extremely difficult not only for the children but for the family as well. The sooner…

Will it begin at the end of June or the start or July?

I have another question about children in disadvantaged areas. Will there be provision for that cohort of students, especially over the summer period? As we said last week, many students have not been in school since 13 March. It is especially acute around disadvantage. Some students will simply drop out. Significant resources will have to be put towards those students. What are the Department plans in this area? I have read about online supports for July provision. What will that contain? Sometimes the outlet is t…

I have questions for the Minister. Before speaking about them I want to pay tribute to and remember Melanie Hill Rutherford, who sat in the Gallery three and a half years ago to observe the passing of legislation on medical cannabis. Unfortunately, she passed away two weeks ago. She was a great advocate for medical cannabis and used it for her pain. If she was still here, she would ask the Minister please to get on with the programme because people need it and are being denied it or have to go elsewhere. I want to …

My second question is on the screening programme, particularly BreastCheck. I know the Minister spoke about this today. I have been contacted by a number of women in Dublin Mid-West about the length of time it takes to get an appointment which is not acceptable, either post-Covid or pre-Covid. There is no logic in women having to wait so long. We now need to look at the long term, the short term and so forth. Based on what Covid has done to society, we need to increase capacity regarding resources, nurses and acces…

I will be sharing my time with Deputy Paul Murphy. I and my party express sorrow over George Floyd's death and our solidarity with his family in the United States. Nobody had heard of George Floyd until a number of days ago. His name is now attached to brutality of racism in the United States. We also send our solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, which is confronting the poison of racism and the police brutality protesters are confronted with. Obviously, these protests are spreading a…

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. There has been a clamour in certain sectors of society that the pandemic unemployment payment should be either immediately cut or tapered off. Much dog-whistling comes with this. The narrative is that people on the Covid payment are living it up. That is very selective by the people who say it. It is usually from the very top and is socially poisonous. That narrative was driven home during debates here on social housing many times. There was a narrative that social housing…

The Taoiseach said that. He said it was free money.