The €350 Covid payment had to be introduced for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. We have to try to get small businesses back to work. It was referred to by a couple of speakers earlier in this slot. Both our banks and the way small businesses are treated have to be addressed and changed immediately. Some €6.5 billion was provided to help businesses to reopen. I have been advised by business professionals that there is an extremely low uptake of this money. This is not to be interpreted as …

Stringent new measures need to be introduced by the Departments of Health, Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Business, Enterprise and Innovation to reduce transmissions of Covid-19 in meat factories and to protect employees. The rapid increase in transmission of Covid-19 in meat factories is a very serious concern. It is a concern to the health of employees and to the wider agrifood sector, of which meat processing plays a key role. Maintaining the food supply chain is essential, but so too is the health of emp…

I am going on to a different remit of the Minister's responsibilities. Thousands of jobs in the horticulture sector are under threat due to the prohibition of peat harvesting on Irish bogs which have a landmass of more than 30 hectares. While this is not just the remit of the Minister's Department, her Department does hold ultimate responsibility for the use of bogs in this country. Peat extraction on all bogs over 30 hectares is restricted due to the striking down of legislation regulating the harvesting of peat. …

I did not get that communication. If the focus was meant to be on the arts, I apologise for raising a heritage issue, but this is an issue in my constituency and I thought this was the opportunity to raise it with the Minister.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I sympathise with all the families who have lost loved ones as a result of this virus. I raise with the Minister concerns about St. Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir. I have been contacted about the hospital by a local councillor, Kieran Bourke, and some of the staff at the hospital. St. Brigid's is a facility of the highest reputation and standards within the system. It acts as a step-down facility from acute care for the south Tipperary and south Kilkenny areas. In the current cris…

The Covid-19 crisis has brought another huge pressure onto primary producers and farmers. Usually when we talk about the pressure on farmers' incomes, it is due to over-supply, but this time it is due to a significant drop in consumption. The European Commission's response so far has been totally inadequate. An allocation of €75 million for all sectors is a drop in the ocean of what is required. It equates to €8 per European farmer. To give a comparison, when dairy prices were under pressure in 2016, €560 million w…

I will focus my comments on the CAP budget. The CAP is a cornerstone of the EU's formation. Unfortunately, in recent years, we have seen the importance of the CAP being eroded. It was the key policy objective of various Governments in the history of the EU but now it has slipped to No. 4 in importance. The family farm structure of which we are so proud in rural Ireland is under serious threat and if we do not restore the CAP as a top priority of EU policy that structure will disappear. We can speak about the financ…