If I ever heard a red herring argument against CETA, that is one. First of all, companies can sue states. Companies sue states and governments all the time. One can go down to the commercial court and see many examples of companies suing the State. It does not mean they are successful. If the best example Deputy Farrell can come up with as an argument against CETA is that a company sued the Egyptian Government - nothing at all to do with CETA - for raising the minimum wage and lost its case, all I can say is that I…

Matters relating to tourism and the media are mainly under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. She would probably be able to give the Deputy a better reply than me, but I will do the best I can with the knowledge I have. Regarding local newspapers and radio, newspapers have benefited from the reduction in the VAT rate to 9%. It was never increased for them. They can benefit from the wage subsidy scheme if their turnover is down. We have put in place some financial support for local radio. However, t…

Some of these issues were raised and answered earlier and I do not want to use up my time giving the same answers again. When it comes to the pandemic unemployment payment people are allowed to do some work and not lose the payment. I do not think it is just restricted to musicians. I think it is more general. Off the top of my head, I think people can earn up to as much as €480 a month and still retain the pandemic unemployment payment but I will double-check it. Certainly the Department of Social Protection can d…

I will have to check with the Minister for Finance, but my understanding is that if a bank gives somebody a payment break that does not affect his or her credit rating. I will double check that. We no longer have blanket payment breaks for everyone who requests them. People have to need them. My understanding is that once it is granted, it does not affect a person's credit rating. I will check the position.

As the Deputy correctly pointed out, travel agents qualify in levels 4 and 5, but would not if we went to level 3. I believe they should because in level 3 one must stay in one's county. Logically, hotels and travel agents should continue to receive CRSS if they are in level 3. I am currently arguing this with the Revenue Commissioners and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. However, even if they do not qualify, they could apply for the new CBAS in that scenario.

That is a complicated area which we will return to at another time. I am not convinced that any of the legislative solutions Members have put forward would have made a difference or would make a difference in those scenarios. It is worthwhile to read the report of the chairman of the Labour Court on that. The Minister of State, Deputy English, might assist me regarding the trading online voucher. I think there is additional funding for it.

The decision of the High Court last week is very significant. The High Court ruled in favour of four pubs that have business interruption policies with FBD. There is yet to be a decision on the quantum. That will be adjudicated in the courts later this month. In that sense, this case is still active and we need to bear that in mind. The ruling could have implications for other small businesses and companies that have similar policies with this insurer or others. It is important that we all examine the implications …

I thank the Deputy. The situation is, and he knows this full well, that the Government cannot interfere in court cases, full stop. His attempts to call on Government to interfere in court cases is totally disingenuous. Nor can the Government direct the Central Bank-----

The only reason the Deputy needs to shout me down when I answer is that he does not want people to hear the truth. That is the only reason that he has to try to shout me down every time I try to answer. He knows full well that the Government cannot interfere in court cases. He knows full well that the Government cannot direct an independent regulator like the Central Bank. The Central Bank is aware of the issue and has been apprised of the issue - it was apprised of it long before the Deputy did anything about it. …

I thank the Deputy for her questions. To clarify, and I have clarified it before, when I used the term "disproportionate", what I was referring to was the fact that it could be argued, and I think it will be argued, that it is disproportionate to impose mandatory hotel quarantine on people who do not have Covid when we do not do that to people who do have Covid. At the moment, there are lots of people in the country who have tested positive for Covid and, fortunately, none of them is in mandatory hotel quarantine. …

I am sure the Deputy will agree and appreciate that the way things are heard is not always what was said or what was meant. That applies even without being misrepresented. Something a person says or means can be heard in a different way. Anyway, I am happy once again to clarify the point. Anything that will save hundreds or thousands of lives is proportionate in my view. We may run into a legal issue around proportionality. I have explained to the House that this may arise. I agree with the Deputy's question and co…

I absolutely agree with Deputy Canney that the value of the work done by people on CE schemes is extraordinary. I remember the day we visited Caherlistrane together in County Galway and saw some of the phenomenal work being done. That is replicated in communities, urban and rural, throughout Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, who has delegated responsibility for CE schemes, had a constructive meeting with a delegation from CE schemes from across the country only …

This is an issue that, as the Deputy will know, has been going on for a long time. It has been grappled with by four or five Governments at this stage. It has not been brought to resolution because there is a real difficulty around it. CE supervisors are of course entitled to the State contributory pension based on their PRSI payments. However, to be entitled to a public sector pension in the way that a nurse, civil servant or teacher might be, one must first be a public servant employed by a public body. Second, o…

I can confirm that the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences does not apply to existing licences or concessions, only to new ones. The ban on gas exploration was announced by me, as Taoiseach, about a year or two ago. We are now going to legislate to ban exploration for oil and gas but existing licences and concessions will still be honoured. However, that is not the way of the future. I think we all appreciate that investment in oil and gas infrastructure is expensive and does not make sense if the plan is t…

I have heard about and read about the Barryroe project but do not know the details. If the Deputy wants to pass them on to me I will certainly take a look at them and see if the suggestion he has made that it could be carbon-neutral stacks up. If it does it is something to which we would have to give good consideration. I do not know that, however, but if he wants to pass on more information, I would be happy to take a look at it and talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about it. There is one thing we need to a…

I thank the Deputy. What we have done thus far is to reduce international and oversea travel into Ireland by about 95%. Anybody arriving in the country is required to have a PCR test taken three days before arrival. There is 98% or 99% compliance with that which is very good. Mandatory home quarantine is now the law. Next week we expect to have legislation on mandatory hotel quarantine. As I said earlier, we are adding 18 countries to the list for which mandatory hotel quarantine will be required, increasing it to …

I agree with the Deputy on his essential point. Antigen testing has a greater role to play in Ireland's battle against Covid, but it is one of those areas where we are very much led by medical and scientific advice. The Deputy will be aware that HIQA carried out a health technology assessment on this and NPHET has given advice on it quite recently which reaffirms the use of antigen testing in certain scenarios such as symptomatic cases and outbreaks. However, the advice that we currently have very strongly from the…

It is certainly not a Government priority but it is an option, one that I think is worthy of consideration. It is the norm, or at least commonplace, across advanced European welfare systems to have pay-related benefits such that if a person who has been paying PRSI into the system for many years loses his or her job, that person gets a higher payment, at least in the initial weeks and months of unemployment, which helps the person to adjust to a sudden loss in income. It is very commonplace in Nordic welfare system…

As I stated earlier, I am not aware of the details in that regard but I will let the Minister, Deputy Ryan, know that the Deputy has raised the issue here today. We need to be frank with the public and each other on this issue. No matter how quickly we develop renewable energy and renewable sources, we will still need to burn gas for the foreseeable future. If we were to turn off the gas tomorrow, we would not be able to power our country, industry or homes. The question that arises is whether one uses the gas one …

I think we are making some really significant progress when it comes to establishing a technological university for the south east. The previous Government passed legislation making technological universities possible. We have two already, one in Dublin and the other in Munster. I am confident in and strongly supportive of the possibility that the next one will be in the south east. It will make a big difference not just for Waterford, but for the wider region. There will be more students staying in the region and …