I have three follow-up questions although I do not expect the Minister to have the answer to the first one. Do all aircraft landing in and leaving Ireland have high efficiency particulate air, HEPA, filters, which can block Covid from travelling? That may be a question for referral to the Irish Aviation Authority. What efforts if any is the Minister making to try to separate Ireland from the UK in terms of how our European partners are viewing us? They are viewing us as a single epidemiological unit, which obviousl…

I want to get clarification on trying to separate Ireland from the UK in terms of how our European partners view us. Is anything happening with that? I want to express concern about that.

I want to express concern about the issue of HEPA filters. Does the Minister have any idea how many aircraft or what airlines do not have HEPA filters? He said Ryanair and Aer Lingus do but what percentage do not?

I will leave time for the Minister to answer my questions. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted travel patterns across the world in a profound way. In a variety of ways, transport will never be the same again. The 2 km and 5 km restrictions coupled with economic shutdown and the requirement to socially distance have pushed us to walk and cycle more. We need to do all we can to retain as much as possible of the resultant mental and physical health benefits of this increased activity, the cleaner air and the lower gree…

I have questions and will leave time for some answers. I refer to the situation of thousands of people in institutional, communal accommodation called direct provision. I note this in the context of great national and governmental effort to tackle Covid-19 where there has been a massive communication campaign to inform everyone about what they need to do in terms of social distancing and how to protect their health and that of their communities. It is also in the context of the Government releasing an unprecedented…

I wish to open by expressing my condolences to the family of the 31 year old carer who worked in a private nursing home in Swords, in my constituency, and whose death was announced in recent days. That underlines the issues and questions raised by other Deputies regarding nursing homes. In many respects, the virus and the State's response to it have given rise to a type of human rights audit. Whose health protection needs and rights is the State responding to most slowly? Those of asylum seekers and people in resid…

Bearing in mind the time allocations, I will try and make these the best 15 seconds ever. I ask the Taoiseach to consider a mechanism whereby front-line and essential workers who have died due to Covid-19 will be formally acknowledged by the State and a mechanism to ensure that the families of such workers are not left in a worse financial position after the death of their family members. These are people who knowingly and willingly risked and lost their lives for the good of the country, and the Irish people would…

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on his election. I nominate Deputy Eamon Ryan for appointment by the President to be Taoiseach. On Monday, I stood in the back garden of the home of David and Sharon Shevlin of the Burrow, Portrane, in my constituency of Dublin Fingal. The Shevlins are just one of a number of families in Portrane who have seen their homes rapidly shrink and disappear in recent years due to increased coastal erosion and extreme weather events. Mr. Shevlin reckons that 13 m of land has disappeared f…