With regard to the digital Covid certificate, we will give consideration to the testing option for the exact reasons the Deputy has mentioned. However, in giving that consideration, we also need to be honest with people. Nobody will ever say that any test, whether a PCR test or an antigen test, is as good as vaccination or immunity from exposure. We could do that in order to address the unfairness and inequality issues the Deputy has raised but it would make things less safe. We need to be honest about that.

It is welcome that works are to be carried out on the runway of Cork Airport. This is a necessary investment in the airport. For obvious reasons, it is probably the right time to do it given that the level of air travel has reduced so much because of the pandemic. It is welcome that this work is taking place. As the Deputy pointed out, the aviation sector has received a lot of financial support from the Government and the taxpayer. It is now running close to €500 million. This includes employment wage subsidies to …

All of us in this House appreciate that the aviation sector is facing a very difficult period. It was booming before the pandemic but that has fundamentally changed. The pandemic has led to a dramatic reduction in air travel. It may be a very long time before it recovers because this pandemic will affect parts of the world for years. That will have an impact on air travel. I also believe that the adoption of new technologies such as videoconferencing will mean that there will be much less business travel in the yea…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of insurance costs for business in the Chamber again. I share his concerns about it, as Minister responsible for employment and enterprise. I assure the House that insurance reform is a priority for the Government. We established a Cabinet committee sub-group on insurance reform, which I chair. It met yesterday and is overseeing the implementation of the action plan for insurance. That is all about bringing down costs for consumers and businesses, introducing more competitio…

I have heard of the practice of ghost brokering. It is illegal but it is often difficult to enforce the law against an Internet entity that may not be based in the State. I will take up the Deputy's suggestion of an information campaign to warn consumers about this scam so they might be able to avoid being ripped off in this way. I will speak to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission about that, or perhaps the Central Bank, whichever relevant body could run such a campaign.

It is a matter of opinion but my opinion is that nobody should be shouted at, shouted down or shouted over in their workplace. It constitutes workplace bullying in pretty much any other scenario and when the Deputy does it, he should apologise for it. Perhaps he does not think so and perhaps the Leas-Cheann Comhairle does not think so but I do. The standards we uphold in this House are what people follow and if the Deputy behaves in the way he does in a workplace, he sends a signal to other people that it is okay f…

In relation to the Deputy's question, which I am trying to answer as he interrupts me again, we will have information on the revised roll-out of the vaccine programme in the next couple of days. That work is being done by the HSE at the moment.

The Ferguson report on antigen testing recommended that an implementation group be established to implement the report. The group Professor Horgan is now chairing is that implementation group. It follows on from the Ferguson report. We have very advanced plans for antigen testing in third level institutions in September and October. That is part of this initiative. I have guidance on antigen testing in the workplace, which we are encouraging employers to do, and a lot of them are. We will be carrying out antigen te…

Hospitality certainly is also a potential option.

I take this opportunity to extend my condolences to Terence Wheelock's family and friends, who, I know, are still grieving and still have a lot of questions they would like answered. As the Deputy said, a GSOC investigation was carried out into his death. I am not sure whether an inquest took place. I certainly will ask the Minister for Justice to reply to the Deputy about his specific request for a further inquiry.

As the Deputy knows, in the rent pressure zones, rents can only increase year on year by between zero and 4%. We are going to change that now so that prices are linked to the harmonised index of consumer prices - inflation, essentially - and that will mean rent increases, depending on inflation, of probably no more than 0.7% or just above 1%, which is where inflation is running at the moment. I think that will be welcomed by most people who are renting. One thing we need to bear in mind, and it may not be popular t…

Doing what the Deputy proposes, which is just having flat rents, would mean some people cannot pay their mortgage and some would have their pension cut.

As the Covid-19 restrictions are gradually eased, there have been changes to the status of driver testing services. A gradual reopening of in-person driver theory test centres commenced on 8 June. Essential driver training for essential workers who have not completed their training recommended on 10 May. Driving tests for essential workers are being prioritised. There will be a gradual reopening of driver testing for non-essential workers, which has commenced already. Forty new temporary driving testers have been h…

I thank the Deputy. As he knows, we have a very ambitious plan in regard to apprenticeships, which involves getting up to 10,000 apprentices a year by 2025. It is being led by the Minister, Deputy Harris. We are now providing incentives and grant aid to employers to take on apprentices and that is showing some positive effects. In the context of the particular case the Deputy raised, if he want to pass on the details to me or the Minister, we will see if there is anything we can do to help.

Thankfully, on the two occasions on which I was in Miltown Malbay, the sun was splitting the stones. It is a really beautiful place to be, particularly along the beach when the sun is shining. However, I know what Ireland is like in winter, as does the Deputy. We are all increasingly aware and cognisant of the importance of good ventilation in indoor settings. It is actually something that is specifically provided for in the return to work safely protocol and there is a requirement under the health and safety Act t…

I thank the Deputy. I am a huge fan of greenways. All Members have seen the enormous success the Great Western Greenway has been in Mayo, as has the Déise greenway in Waterford. I have been on the great southern trail with Deputy Griffin and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, on a few occasions and I was delighted to hear that it is now being opened and extended. It is a long time since I was fully across the project. I dealt with it while I was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Like the Deputy, I am…

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate the dilemma that exists. We did take a look at phasing out PUP on a sectoral basis but it is not as straightforward as that either. While retail may be open, many people formerly employed in the sector in the airport have not yet returned to work. While a handful of sandwich shops have re-opened, there are sandwich shops all over the city centre that are still closed because office workers are not back yet. Doing it on a sectoral basis is difficult but it is not something we are rul…

I thank the Deputy. It was not an off-the-cuff remark, by the way; it was an on-the-record response to a question I was asked at a press conference. Those are the facts. What the CMO said yesterday is that NPHET did not recommend the cancellation of communions and confirmations because, in the view of NPHET, they were not supposed to be taking place anyway. We had hoped it would be possible for them to resume after 5 July but that is not the case. The advice from NPHET and the public health doctors and scientists i…

The opening date, if one likes, for the digital certificate was today, 1 July. We are the only country in the EU that has not done so but the regulation does allow countries six weeks to comply. As we stated from the outset, we intend to have that in place for 19 July. That is being worked on at the moment. I understand there are some significant difficulties but we are still confident that we will have the digital Covid certificate out to most people who are entitled to one before 19 July. There will be some teeth…

The new guidance and advice from NIAC allows us to do two things. It allows us to speed up delivery of a second dose for people waiting for one, particularly those who had the AstraZeneca vaccine. That will be done in a matter of two to three weeks at the most. For younger people, that is, those under 40 who have not been vaccinated yet, it will speed that up as well. We are just working out the logistics and implications of that. One thing at which we are looking is making the Janssen vaccine available through pha…