There is no promised legislation on that issue but I will certainly mention to the Minister that the Deputy has raised the issue and I will ask that a reply be forwarded to him.

I thank the Deputy for pointing out that anomaly. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is leading a review of the SUSI grant system at the moment. I appreciate that it may not be completed in time for these students, so I will make sure that he is aware of the issue that has been raised.

I thank the Deputies. This is obviously a matter of grave concern to people in the region. I do not have any details to hand but I will inform the Minister for Health that the matter was raised in the Chamber. I will ask him to look into the matter and get back to the Deputies directly.

The position is that the PUP, like most social welfare payments, is subject to income tax and the universal social charge, USC, in the same way, for example, as the State pension. Child benefit is exempt, but most social welfare payments are subject to tax if one earns enough money to pay income tax and the USC. Someone who, for example, earned €36,000 last year from work pays the same tax as someone who earned €36,000 comprising €10,000 in PUP and €26,000 from work. That is the way it works and it is only fair. We…

I am the Tánaiste so the Deputy will have to allow me take the matter up with the ambassador, rather than the Prime Minister of Israel who is no longer my counterpart. The point that the Deputy makes is exactly right. Israel is the occupying, controlling power in Palestinian territories and, therefore, has a duty and responsibility to provide basic healthcare, including vaccination against the pandemic. I will take that up with the Israeli ambassador.

We are seeing increased waiting lists for procedures and for outpatient appointments across the country, not just in Waterford. That is not solely or exclusively down to reduced staff or funding because the reverse is the case. There has been a big increase in the number of staff in the health service and a massive increase in spending in recent years but because of the need to shut down large parts of the health service because of Covid-19, we are seeing increased waiting lists in all areas as a result of the shut…

I am not aware of this particular situation. It certainly sounds like it is far from ideal. However, if somebody tests positive for coronavirus and is self-isolating and staying in his or her room, other people should not be at risk, provided that those infected are self-isolating and staying in their rooms. I will certainly let the Minister for Health know that the Deputy raised these concerns and will ask him to contact her.

There is no legislation promised on that matter and I do not think I have any particular powers of intervention when it comes to such issues. I will let the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, who has responsibility for fisheries, know that the issue was raised and I will ask him to get back to the Deputy.

The Government policy and rules around this are very clear. There are only three groups of people who can receive the vaccine at present, namely, care home residents over 65 years and care home staff and healthcare workers who interact with patients. It is important to bear in mind that some administrative and reception staff engage with patients. The third group is people who are over 85 years. Nobody else should be receiving the vaccine. If Deputies have examples of people receiving the vaccine who should not, th…

That work is very much under way. The Company Law Review Group has done some work on the company law aspects of it. As the Deputy knows, the Duffy Cahill report does not recommend changes to company law and points out that so-called tactical insolvencies are already illegal and that there may be some need to change employment law on redundancy. Unfortunately, in my assessment, none of those changes would have made a difference in the Debenhams' case because there simply were not assets there. The assets, which incl…

I would be happy to look at any cases or real-world examples the Deputy may have in that regard. My parliamentary party raised the issue with me as well last night. This is not the last scheme the Government will introduce to support business. I am open to the introduction of further schemes. However, I wish to be very clear; the purpose of the EWSS is to help with payroll costs. The purpose of the CRSS, the CBAS, and the new scheme for the tourism sector introduced by the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is to h…

We are not in a position to compensate people for lost income, other than the PUP, or lost profits. If we are thinking of adjusting the scheme or bringing in a new scheme, it has to be about fixed costs. Somebody who stores stock in their own home does not have a fixed cost.

Hopefully, air pollution has reduced as a consequence of Covid and the lockdown given the significant decrease in transport-related emissions. I do not have a date for the clean air strategy. I do not know the date for its publication, but I will check it and make sure the Deputy's office is informed.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised the issue of click and collect and whether we can restore it for retail businesses. We can certainly give that some consideration, but I cannot make any promises today. One of the difficulties that arose with click and collect is that it did cause people to leave the house to make journeys and interact with other people and there is a public health risk in that. We prefer deliveries to click and collect, but at some point it will come back, although perhaps not for a while yet. We wil…

It is important to say that the nation's vaccination programme is well under way. More than 200,000 vaccines have been given. Compared with our peer European countries, we are among the top countries in the EU in terms of getting the vaccines out to people once we have received them. By last Sunday, we had received 207,000 doses, 200,000 of which had been given. The only constraints at the moment are factors that are not in our control - first, supply from the companies and, second, approvals by the European Medici…

I thank the Deputy. I am advised that the vaccination of those aged over 85 will begin in the middle of February as planned but because we will have to use the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, of which there is less supply, as opposed to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the roll-out will be slower. I cannot give the Deputy exact timeframes and dates on it at this stage. It will allow us to speed up the vaccine programme for healthcare workers and high-risk people who are under 70. A lot of the details of this have to be worked…

It is the case that on occasion, and on more than one occasion, the facts are disputed. Scientists and doctors say they were not negligent.

If the Deputy can come up with a solution to resolve this, I am all ears. Unfortunately, there will be individual cases where the facts are disputed.

Therefore, there has to be some sort of hearing, hopefully at a tribunal rather than in court.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising this issue again. I agree with him that it is not something we should be sparring about. It is too sensitive for that. My thoughts are with Lynsey Bennett today and particularly with her daughters Zoe and Haley. I hope her treatment goes as well as possible and that she gets as much time as is possible with her daughters. I do not know the details of this case because, as the Deputy knows, once things go to law they are handled by legal people rather than politicians. I unde…