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Deputy-----

Deputy, please-----

We are all very fond of the Deputy but that does not entitle him to any more time than any other speaker.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak. Any time I have made a contribution, I am reminded that our only precedent for this is Spanish flu. There was a third surge of the Spanish flu in March and April and it will be hard for the country to avoid that in this instance, despite people's best efforts. We need to be mindful of it. The Taoiseach was right in his determination to prioritise the reopening of schools. He and the Minister for Education often do not get the credit for that. Deputy Shortall mentione…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Road Traffic Act 1961 to further regulate the use of all-terrain vehicles and scrambler motorcycles in a public place, to make further provision for the seizure, by An Garda Síochána, of said vehicles and motorcycles in certain circumstances, to provide for the confiscation and disposal of same when a person contravenes the law in relation to the use of both all-terrain vehicles and scrambler motorcycles in a public place and to provide …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I acknowledge the huge investment this week in cycling infrastructure throughout the country. It is the largest ever investment in this area on behalf of the State and there is more to come. There has never been a greater opportunity to move ahead with the provision of cycling infrastructure in terms of public goodwill and support and, more specifically, the public appetite for such initiatives demonstrated throughout the first lockdown and necessitated by the impact of Covid on public transport capacity. What are …

Yes.

I am asking about micromobility infrastructure.

I thank the Minister. I acknowledge that I am pushing an open door. The directly-elected mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, introduced and appointed a cycling commissioner, Chris Boardman, the first UK Olympian to win a medal for cycling, which he did at the Barcelona Olympics. The Minister could do worse than to consider the appointment of a micromobility commissioner for Dublin. Such a person could really drive the agenda across the four Dublin local authorities, which have shown mixed responses to the need for m…

Perhaps we will come back to that issue another day. Returning to the legislation, pedestrians give out about cyclists, cyclists give out about car drivers and car drivers give out about heavy goods vehicles. We should legislate for a hierarchy of responsibility so that truck and bus drivers would be responsible for smaller motor vehicles, cars would be responsible for smaller vehicles such as bikes and e-scooters, and everyone would be responsible for pedestrians. Legislation of this kind exists in other countries…

The Deputy's time is never up.

The Deputy may have it.

Allow the Minister to respond.

Does Deputy Ó Cuív wish to ask a supplementary question?

I wish to ask the Minister about her Department's work to support our public libraries. I ask her to make a statement, particularly in the context of the impact of Covid on the operation of libraries.

I appreciate the Minister's answer, particularly insofar as it relates to the strategy outlined in Our Public Libraries 2022: Inspiring, Connecting and Empowering Communities, to which she referred. Libraries are closed now, however. I know she is a very keen supporter of libraries. I do not think there is a public representative who is not. The library has always been one of our favourite community hubs. The view of communities, however, is that local retail stores and supermarkets are open and people are stacking…

I thank the Minister for that and I hear her openness to my suggestions. I think we can see the sense in this, as she said, given the low risk and somehow analysing it. She announced €3 million to support a small-scale capital works programme in some of the public libraries. Given that they have been closing, is progress being made on that during their closure? In addition, the Minister's strategy, which I very much welcome, sets out an ambition of increasing library use and growing active membership from 6% of the…

Not on this one.