I thank the Acting Chairman. I will be brief.

The Minister of State wants to take Deputy Healy-Rae's question first.

It is bizarre to hear a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach and a Fianna Fáil Minister of State stand up here again today to try to defend what is indefensible in terms of the deal that has been brought back from Europe. It is no surprise that the last Fianna Fáil Taoiseach to go to Europe to try to strike a deal came back with the troika. We now have our own troika here of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party going to Europe and coming back with this deal, which is ultimately a bad deal for workers, families, farmers and …

As this is the first time I have had the opportunity to meet the Taoiseach in the Chamber since his election, I congratulate him and wish him well in all his endeavours in the time ahead. I also congratulate the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, on his recent promotion to a new role at the heart of what he terms to be the economic engine of Europe. In his own words and those of the Government, he assumes his role with a pledge to fight Ireland's corner in Europe and being freshly possessed with an infusion of a…

Since the North Wicklow Educate Together school in Bray opened in August 2016, it has been treated absolutely appallingly by the Department. It was opened in 2016 in a temporary premises in the old Presentation College on Putland Road in Bray. At the time, the Department was aware of a 2015 High Court agreement between the former owner of the site and the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board that vacation of the premises needed to take place by April 2019. Last year, right up until the 12th hour, the sc…

I am flabbergasted by the response of the Minister and the handling of this entire situation by the Department. The school is completely in the dark as to what is going on. All the equipment from the building which the school is legally obliged to vacate has been packed up and is in storage. Now the Minister is talking about potential contingency plans being put in place if the work is not carried out. Perhaps somebody might want to speak to school and start talking to it directly about what plans may have to be pu…

I take the opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his reappointment as head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and his new role with responsibility for defence. As Sinn Féin's spokesperson for foreign affairs and defence I look forward to rigorous and robust exchanges of views. I begin with Brexit. Its impact will be felt not only in this State but across the island of Ireland. There is a great onus on the Government to protect the Irish protocol. The protection of the Good Friday Agreement must ta…

I am going back to that now in a second. It is important at this point for the Minister-----

I will finish off on this point, with the Acting Chair's permission. The Minister said, and this is from the advice of-----

An opportunity needs to be given to the Minister to clarify remarks he made-----

-----regarding the occupied territories Bill. That is a question that is appropriate and this is my first exchange with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on the Government’s handling or mishandling of the occupied territories Bill and comments he made in defence of the rationale for not proceeding with the Bill. He cites references to information received from the former Attorney General as to the reason why he could not proceed with this Bill. There is evidence to show that he misinterpreted or misquoted …

While I recognise that the European Council has yet to reach agreement on the specifics of the roll-out of the Covid-19 crisis response, it is no less than an injustice to Ireland that the EU has failed to recognise the potential severity of the challenge that Ireland faces. Taking a moment to recognise the human cost of the Covid-19 crisis right across Europe, and here at home in this State, where more than 1,700 of our citizens have perished, I also want to bring attention to the fact that this is not the only se…

Deputy McDonald outlined in her contribution why it is critical that we would recognise the state of Palestine, a motion on which was passed by the Dáil six years ago. At this critical juncture in time, it is important that all the leaders of all the political parties here in Leinster House would commit to this happening at this point. When I say it is critical at this point, obviously, major things are happening in the Middle East, particularly the annexation by the Israelis of the West Bank. It is critical, if we…

In fairness, we need action, not words.

As we discuss the Revised Estimates this afternoon, we might as well be standing here blindfolded in what should be a debate to give clarity to the 1.2 million workers currently in receipt of State payments as a result of Covid-19. There is no clarity whatsoever about the PUP or the wage subsidy scheme. I believe a decision has already been taken by the caretaker Minister and the caretaker Government to cut the €350 payment. We have not heard anything in the Minister's comments to deny that. She said it will be ext…

It is good to see the Minister in the Chamber.

I will aim towards five minutes. This is an important question to lead with. I welcome the Minister. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have introduced emergency legislation and had a number of sitting days dealing with social protection, and this is the first time we have had a senior Minister before the House with responsibility for social protection to answer questions and provide some accountability. As the Minister outlined in her contribution, more than 585,000 people are currently in receipt of the pandemic …

Will the payment be tapered?

I am sorry. Time is short. I am trying to get clarity on whether it will be tapered and how long it will be extended for. The Minister is not willing to give that information.

The second question I want to put relates to women returning from maternity leave. The Minister will be aware that last week the National Women's Council of Ireland referred the exclusion of women returning from maternity leave from accessing the wage subsidy scheme to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The NWCI believes that the Government's exclusion of women from maternity leave is not in compliance with the Maternity Protection Act 1994, which provides that women on maternity leave are entitled to …