Whether the Deputy's name was submitted as a substitute.

It is being checked.

There has been no notification to the Ceann Comhairle's office of substitutes for questions.

We are going back to Question No. 87, in the name of Deputy Murnane O'Connor.

No, but the Deputy can have another bite of the cherry afterwards. I call Deputy Kenny for a brief comment.

Just to inform Members, the question from Deputy Brendan Smith will be the last question. I call on the Minister to conclude.

In recent hours, the Garda Commissioner has gone on the record saying that proposed legislation to overhaul oversight of An Garda Síochána would lead to him spending more time reporting to oversight bodies than overseeing policing and leading the service. He said that the policing, security and community safety Bill 2021, as it currently stands, would lead to dysfunctional micromanagement and that the Bill would grant powers to the proposed new Garda ombudsman which would be disproportionate and unconstitutional an…

I thank the Ministers of State who are present today to hear these statements and comments. I am a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and this week, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we were fortunate enough to meet experts from the breast screening services and the national cancer control programme. They included Professor Fidelma Flanagan, Ms Fiona Murphy, chief executive of the national screening service, Professor Arnold Hill and Dr. Martin O'Sullivan. If anybody wishes to listen to that meeti…

I thank the Minister of State for her presence today. We all know, both as human beings and constituency politicians, that a trip made by anybody to hospital is generally a journey taken with some little anxiety and trepidation, if not more. It is not something we like to have to schedule into our diary. Covid-19 has clearly exacerbated this experience for people because it tends to make the hospital environment even more fraught. That is notwithstanding the incredible efforts of nurses and doctors in accident and …

The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and I had a sneak preview of the children's satellite hospital at Tallaght. It is a very fine facility and I very much look forward to it opening. I acknowledge, as the Minister of State did, the work and commitment of staff in Tallaght University Hospital and their efforts in ensuring an uninterrupted provision of emergency care throughout the pandemic. As the Minister of State noted, Tallaght University Hospital is one of Ireland's largest acute teaching hospitals with 35,00…

I was just thinking as Deputy Cathal Crowe was speaking that the issue of gender equality crosses into so many areas of our lives. When I was Dublin spokesperson for my party in the previous Dáil, I took a particular interest in cycling. There is quite a body of literature that shows that particular innovations and infrastructure have to be put in place to enable and encourage more women to cycle. It goes to Deputy Cathal Crowe's point that some research indicates that when young girls are cycling it can be seen as…

I am sharing time. I will narrow my focus, because I just have three or four minutes, to a specific aspect of the budget. Then, in the context of the finance Bill I will talk about other issues. One of the policy issues close to my heart is the issue of special needs education, as well as the provision of many facilities, supports, backup, teachers, and hours to those children who have special needs, and meeting the requirements of these children's parents. I am very happy, therefore, to welcome that there are a nu…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 27A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan - to discuss an update on the implementation and oversight of the Irish Sign Language Act; (2) Deputy Michael Moynihan - to discuss understaffing and resources in the ambulance services in Cork and Kerry; (3) Deputy Brian Stanley - to discuss pay and conditions for school secretaries; (4) Deputies Paul McAuliffe and Cormac Devli…

Deputy O'Donnell is sharing time with Deputy Flaherty.

As a notice for those Deputies contributing to the Topical Issue Debate, which is scheduled for 6 p.m, we are going to finish these statements considerably earlier than that. To advise the Deputies who are on standby for that debate, I estimate we will finish the statements within 40 minutes at the latest.

We have no Solidarity-People Before Profit speakers so I call Deputy Durkan.

The Deputy has two minutes for his response. He might try to stay on time.

I am grateful for that. It is a really good question from my colleague, Deputy Bruton. Has the Minister any figures as to what skill sets people who are left claiming the PUP have? I am particularly interested in hospitality. Does the Department have details on that? Dublin is full of half-empty restaurants not because people do not want to book but because of the lack of capacity of the restaurants in question to meet the demand in respect of their kitchen staff. That is why many of the restaurants throughout the …

When we cast our minds back, we did not anticipate that we would have Covid vaccines until the end of this year. In fact, 90% of our population is now vaccinated. The Minister mentioned earlier that she expects the numbers in receipt of the PUP to fall below 100,000 for the first time next week. Will she update the House on the breakdown of the fall in the number of persons in receipt of the PUP, by county, since its peak in May last year?

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. It cannot be said often enough that we owe thanks to the staff and officials of her Department for responding with such flexibility and agility as each crisis phase of the pandemic demanded and ensuring people got money in their pocket quickly, which was very reassuring. The Minister, in her reply, has helped to put the lie to the notion that there were many people scamming the system. There is strong evidence to show that people went back to work as soon as their e…