I thank the Minister, all our front-line services and particularly NPHET. The situation is very challenging at the moment with the increasing case figures. I congratulate all our leaving certificate students who received their results this week and in many cases will go to college. My concern, however, is our student nurses and the supports in place for them and our midwives unable to work part-time while on placement. Student nurses on placement have been told they cannot work in other healthcare settings due to C…

The Cathaoirleach said a mistake was made and apologised for calling people in the wrong order.

I wish the Minister of State well in her new role. For far too long mental health issues have been ignored, stigmatised and demonised. What the Minister of State said in her speech was absolutely correct. Many families contacted my office, concerned over the lack of mental health services during the Covid pandemic and asking when they would resume. It is important to have a roadmap for that and I know the Minister of State will do so, which I welcome. We have half the European average of acute psychiatric beds avai…

It is appropriate that we congratulate the colleges now that they are reopening. I am sure this weekend will be a long weekend for them. I am sure they will all be working, with the CAO offers out next week, to get colleges ready, whether it is for online education or otherwise. I also welcome what the Minister said about fees. Several constituents have contacted me to say that they cannot afford full fees this year because as students could not work this summer, they could not save. Communication is important. SUS…

I really welcome that. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Harris, has worked extremely hard in the weeks since he became the Minister with responsibility for higher education. It is important to get the technological university for the south east. Carlow and Kilkenny are my priority, as is Waterford, with all of us working together. I really welcome that. I am glad that we will sit down to talk about the college that has not had the same funding for laptops, which is important too. Has the Department of Education an…

Communication is the key here. The guidelines and any subsequent law must be enforceable. While the majority of establishments and people have played by the rules, unfortunately some have not. The gardaí have much to enforce now. I am not sure they can catch every offender with a pizza slice and a few pints. The message should have been that everyone with a food licence may operate as a restaurant, with the meal the main attraction rather than a loophole. That kind of rule breaking may result in many of our small f…

I want to raise the same issue. Yesterday, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, met the Enough is Enough group, which is campaigning for services for adults and children with disabilities. It was very moving to hear from families who have really been affected by the strain and stress of the past few months. Many of them feel they have had no support. I know the Minister of State is going to work with them, and it is important that she does, but there are more than 5,000 cases tod…

I also welcome the package for the reopening of schools. It is very important. One of the biggest issues relates to social distancing for students in third to sixth class. That has become a big issue and many schools have contacted me in that regard. The Minister has asked all schools at what stage any planning applications they have made are. The Taoiseach will know that there are about 20 stages involved in making a planning application for a school building through the Department. The time it takes to complete t…

I also want to speak about musicians and artists. Ireland is known for its music and song, which are part of our tradition. We are very proud of that tradition when we go to America or elsewhere abroad. I am very concerned that we do not have any supports in that area. We need to address this and give support to people who have worked and paid taxes all their lives. Through no fault of their own, Covid-19 has just put a stop to everything. They are not to be blamed for that. This is a time when we need to show our …

I wish the Minister well in his new role. We have very challenging times ahead. While I welcome the extension of the rent freeze and ban on evictions, we need to take time to future-proof the rental sector. We need to take a long-term view of what criteria are used to evict tenants. We also need to encourage small landlords back into the system and protect vulnerable tenants. Some accidental landlords may now need to move back into their rental property because they may have lost work due to Covid-19. We must take …

I welcome the expansion of entitlement to GP services for children from age 6 to 12. I ask the Minister to revert to me on the timescale for that. One of the biggest issues I have been contacted several times about is the availability of GPs. We have heard from the public health official that many people are not returning for their follow-up Covid-19 test after being identified as a close contact to a case. I want to highlight my experience for the Minister, which is that if someone does not have a GP it is nearly …

The wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment were welcome supports. I appreciate that these supports will continue as we move towards normal living with the coronavirus but I hope that the stimulus package to be announced today will provide supports for tour guides, small hospitality businesses which only ever operate in June, July and August and as such were not open in February to qualify for these supports. Will the wage subsidy scheme and rates moratorium continue into 2021? Private bus operato…

I am sharing time with Deputies Flaherty and Crowe. The Government has my full support. This legislation to extend the option of overdrafts, term loans and working capital for small and medium-sized businesses that have been severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic is welcome. It is important that we support viable businesses and ensure that our entrepreneurs do not go to the wall because of something that was completely beyond their control. I am keen to encourage robust scrutiny of this loan scheme to ensure that th…

Over the past few years in the Seanad, I raised the issue of the threshold to qualify for local authority housing lists. The Taoiseach will be aware that in almost ten years, there has been no review. I ask him to have the review carried out; every local authority in Ireland needs it.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for taking this matter. I ask the Minister for a report on the very special Carlow school, the Holy Angels School for Children with Special Needs, which I have raised on a number of occasions in the Seanad. It is an issue very close to my heart. I am specifically looking for a report on a new building for the school as we head into another school term this autumn with Covid-19 very much at the forefront of our minds. The Holy Angels centre…

I thank the Minister of State. That is welcome news. It is so important that we get the funding for the Holy Angels day care centre. I cannot emphasise enough that it really is in a bad place. We have excellent staff and fabulous children. People in Carlow are proud of Holy Angels and the work it does but the prefabs are not fit for purpose after 40 years. I will be looking for capital funding. We need to get it as soon as possible. I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I will be at the meeting.

The public needs clarity regarding travel this summer. The message might be that all non-essential travel is not advised and that anyone coming to Ireland should isolate for 14 days. In practice, however, Irish consumers are about to lose massive sums because flights are still running, hotels abroad are open while large numbers of non-isolating tourists from abroad are wandering around the country. In other words, there are two issues arising. The first issue is the money Irish consumers are losing, which they coul…

I too wish the Ministers and Ministers of State well. As they know, education is so important in these times. Given the concerns that we have, it is so important to have such good people in education. I wish them well. I want a lot of work done for Carlow, just so as we start on the record first. There is much concern about the return to school in September. There are parents out there afraid to buy schoolbooks and uniforms because they are not convinced their children can return to school. Every year, the summer w…

On the DEIS schools-----

She was on her-----