Does the Minister intend to introduce a sector-specific Covid-19 plan for the coming months for the tourism and hospitality sector to provide additional support for businesses given the potential for further restrictions during the winter months? Will she make a statement on the matter?

As the Minister says, she is acutely aware that the tourism and hospitality sectors are among the hardest hit sectors. They are on their knees and they face into a long winter. The Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, has said that the weekly rate of new bookings has plummeted by 67% and it is looking at occupancy rates of 23% for October. It also estimates 100,000 jobs have been lost and a further 100,000 jobs are at risk, so it is massive. The pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and the EWSS are being cut, and the July …

Can the Minister honestly say the stay and spend initiative is sufficient for what the sector needs? A whole section of society has been excluded from it and it is only those who can afford to go on a holiday that will benefit from it. A voucher scheme such as that proposed by my party, according to which every adult and every child in the State would have got €200, would been a real stimulus package. Given the pandemic, the restrictions and the lockdown, if a person's county is in lockdown between now and April, t…

I ask the Minister if she can confirm whether the commission on the future of Irish public service broadcasting intends to prioritise and expedite the matter of the licence fee in its work, when the commission is expected to report on this section of its work, if the Minister will commit to implementing the recommendations of that report regarding the licence fee and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Maintaining robust public service broadcasting has never been more important, given fake news and other interference in the media. RTÉ and TG4 have significant funding gaps, to the tune of €30 million and €4 million, respectively. I am sure that the loss of advertising revenue during the Covid-19 period has made the situation worse. It is also important to note the importance of TG4 as a public service broadcaster. I hope that the work of the commission will support it to grow and continue to produce excellent prog…

Yesterday's announcement laid out a wide remit for the commission. My question relates to the urgent matter of the licence fee. The wide remit of the commission is welcome and we need to examine all aspects of the media. I also hope to see print journalists appointed to the commission; they have been omitted so far. The real issue concerning all the areas that have been flagged is the need to address the licence fee.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Mac Lochlainn, on tabling this motion. Fianna Fáil's track record in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine since coming to power has been an absolute shambles. When it comes to Fianna Fáil, U-turns, talking out of both sides of the mouth and breaking promises should not really surprise us but its U-turn on the penalty points scheme really takes the biscuit. When we were between the second and third Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine of this Government the Taois…

As we are all aware, in the past few weeks the British have done a U-turn on the withdrawal agreement. Businesses throughout our island have already been brought to their knees by the pandemic and now they again have to contend with the shock of a potential no-deal Brexit. The British are clearly not prepared for this eventuality and their chaotic approach will affect Irish businesses on both sides of the Border. We heard this week about the latest problems affecting hauliers due to delays and queues at Dover. It i…

Eight days ago, I raised the urgent need for a Covid-19 testing centre for Drogheda, the largest town in Ireland. The Taoiseach gave a commitment to make representations and revert to me. He never did get back to me, despite the fact that County Louth is now on a knife-edge and we are looking at the real possibility of heading into level 3. The people are playing their part and they expect the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, to play his. He can do mass testing or he can do the lockdown of an entire county. Can th…

I raised this issue with the Taoiseach on Tuesday. Louth has had the third highest case numbers of Covid-19 and, four times in the past week, Louth has had the second highest number of cases recorded. The acting Chief Medical Officer, CMO, said earlier this week that Louth is showing a particularly concerning trend. This morning, first, second and third year students from a school in Drogheda were told to stay home. One positive case involving a teacher has resulted in up to 30 other teachers getting close contact …

It is the second time it is over the seven-day average.

Yesterday's announcement will have offered very little in the way of comfort or clarity for those working in the tourism and hospitality industry. Those representing the sector had hoped to see additional sector-specific support, but unfortunately it was not forthcoming. The tourism season is now over and hundreds of thousands of people who work in the sector are staring into the abyss. The Irish Hotels Federation has said that 100,000 people working in tourism have already lost their jobs and another 100,000 jobs …

The Taoiseach spoke over and over again this morning about the Government's commitment to ramping up testing and tracing. I want to raise the issue of the provision of a Covid testing centre for Drogheda. As the Taoiseach knows, Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland but we are left without a Covid testing centre. The people of Drogheda and of south Louth who have been referred by their GP for a test have to travel to another town, and people who do not have transport - listen to this - have been told by the HSE t…

Cases are rising in Louth. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health direct the HSE to examine the possibility of using the health centre in the Haymarket as a Covid testing centre, or another identified site, as soon as possible?

Cases are rising and that is where the confusion and the chaos lies. The Taoiseach says they are ramping up testing and tracing yet the largest town in Ireland is left without a Covid testing centre. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment so people do not have to put up with this rubbish?

The dispute in Premier Periclase is not about extra money. The workers are not looking for extra money. The company's proposal is to lay off workers and put them on reduced hours while transferring work to non-union labour and retaining contractors on site. When the proposals were first put to the workers, management continuously refused point blank to engage with them. The workers had no option, therefore, but to serve notice of strike action. The workers then suspended the notice of strike action to allow for tal…

Given what we outlined about the company's clear attempts at union busting and to erode any long-standing collective agreement, I would have thought the Minister of State's first gut instinct would be to say we must protect workers' rights in this State and that he would certainly write to the company to ask it to engage with the State apparatus that is in place to resolve these disputes, that is, the WRC. That is what I would do were I a Minister. I would initially be concerned and say that if this company can get…

It will take nothing out of him. Will he write to the company in the interest of workers' rights and out of respect for the WRC, the State apparatus, the long and hard-fought battle for workers rights' and the long-standing collective agreement in place? Will he write to the company and ask it to engage with the WRC around the table with the workers?

We are facing into a very difficult winter. In fairness, we are used to difficult winters in this State and to what comes with them - delays, trolleys and overstretched services - but this year is expected to be much worse due to Covid-19. Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have developed and maintained a two-tier health system which has led to a poorly functioning public health service and a highly profitable, expensive private system. The health service in this State is dysfunctional at the best of …

-----where healthcare provision in this country is concerned. They need the State to support them and they need intervention from the Minister.