I will make a short contribution. I agree that we are at a crucial point and it will be one of many crucial points we will face over the next period in our war against the virus. We will have rearguard skirmishes, battles and everything else thrown into the mix over the next period of time. The Minister called it chapter 2. I do not know whether that is the correct term, but that is how he described it. The public know the danger. If people are told what is going on, they will react and do what is necessary. People…

I also wish to raise the issue of the Debenhams workers, because I do not think we got an answer that we can stand by. Would the Taoiseach condemn the arrests of the workers this morning? Is it now the policy of the gardaí to arrest workers engaging in peaceful industrial action? To my knowledge, this has never happened before. Occupations have been broken up and workers have been arrested and, indeed, jailed, but only on the basis of a fine, court order or injunction, none of which was issued in this case. Workers…

The Duffy Cahill report was published in March 2016. We had 2017, 2018 , 2019 and we are now in 2020. The Taoiseach is correct that those workers have been a long time on the picket line - 150 days. When people were told to cocoon at the very start of the restrictions, those workers had to go out there and protect the shop's stock so that it would not be sold off above their heads. They have been out there every single day of the week of the last period of time. We have a duty to those workers to say now that legis…

No, but we managed to do it-----

Exactly. We have to do this.

Four years later-----

I seek clarity from the Ceann Comhairle. In the previous two sessions, the Chair allowed questions and if a Deputy left time for the Minister to reply, the Minister replied.

There are three questions I want to ask.

If the Minister of State would reply, it would be good. First, I welcome that there is a dedicated Minister of State and I wish Deputy Madigan well. The ball is very much in the Minister of State's court. It is a big task to take on. It is an area where so many families and children have been let down by the State to such an extent that the children had to go to the courts to try to get places in schools. Again, I wish the Minister of State well and vow to work constructively with her. How many extra SNAs have been…

All the Deputies who represent Dublin South Central have asked for a meeting with the Minister of State about setting up Scoil Colm in Crumlin as an autism special school. Will she meet us? The parents' campaign has also sought a meeting with her. Everyone would be pleased to know that she will meet us.

The overwhelming majority of people have behaved responsibly in combating this deadly virus because people know what it means and what it is. Before the restrictions came in, older people and people with respiratory illnesses were staying in their homes because they knew that was the right thing to do. They did not have to be told in many instances and that was commented on in the lead-up to those restrictions. There is a minority who have blatantly disregarded the restrictions. I make this point because it leads i…

A number of weeks ago I raised the concern of the 12 patients aged under 18 awaiting Spinraza. I knew the Taoiseach would be concerned because he was so involved in the campaign last year. I have not heard anything back from his office. I was hoping that he would respond positively. I got a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled along with other Deputies, which stated Children's Health Ireland, CHI, confirmed that it is in a continuous engagement process with families regarding their child's individual plan for…

I raise the matter of capacity as we have seen how hospitals have had to deal with people getting very ill from Covid-19 and going into intensive care units, etc. We still have our need for ordinary surgeries, consultations and treatment of ill people so what are the HSE and the Minister doing in this respect? Will the Minister give us a breakdown of the current position? It was mentioned recently by Dr. Rita Doyle that the required legislation to allow non-consultant hospital doctors to train to be consultants, wh…

The Government correctly, in my view, made a decision on public health guidelines to make mandatory the wearing of masks on public transport and in retail outlets. Masks cost money. A pack of 50 blue masks costs €50 or €2 each if bought separately. A pack of four cloth face masks costs €24. Has the Government decided to reflect the public health guidance and provide masks free of cost to those on social welfare, old age pension and disability benefits and homeless people? I have seen homeless people trying to get o…

They were given for free. People notice that.

The Minister would have had a hard job ahead of him even without what has happened internationally with the pandemic, which has caused a catastrophe in our health services and across the world. This is mainly because of decades of not mismanagement but an ideological move away from public healthcare and removing money and resources from it while moving towards the private health sector. Today we are looking at a Bill that deals with two aspects of budget 2020 proposals as agreed. These are that the Government is to…

The Taoiseach will be aware that, during the previous Dáil, the Government supported the restructuring of the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, and the Citizens Information Board. This was very contentious and opposed by many Deputies. I heard this morning that two MABS offices - on Francis Street in Dublin 8 and in Crumlin - have been told that they will be closed from Friday and will have to move to Tallaght. Moving what are important services for people out of their areas is serious. Do other Deputies know…

The intention-----

Deputy Harkin was supposed to speak.

I will take seven minutes. I wish to express my support and solidarity for the up to 1,400 workers who were directly employed by Debenhams and those who were concession staff. I loudly condemn Debenhams' calculated, cynical and tactical liquidation of the 11 stores in the Republic of Ireland. These workers, mainly women and mainly mammies, as one of the girls from the Henry Street store said at a briefing yesterday with the Debenhams workers, are defending their money in the stock in the shops around the country. T…