I thank the Deputy. As he knows, the Oireachtas some time ago decided that the management of medical negligence cases should be delegated to the State Claims Agency. That is the law. I think it might even have been brought in by Deputy Brendan Howlin as Minister, giving that power to the State Claims Agency to manage medical negligence cases on behalf of the State, so these are not dealt with by politicians or Ministers, and Ministers have no input into how these cases are managed. I am not sure if the Government e…

I thank the Deputy. More than 3,000 people in this State and nearly 5,000 people on this island have lost their lives as a consequence of, or at least with, Covid-19, and our condolences go to all of those families, and all who are still grieving in Ireland, North and South. Sadly, it is the case across the developed world that a very high proportion of people who have died from Covid, or died with Covid, were residents of nursing homes. Ireland is not unique in that regard. Even in countries where they have had a …

I thank the Deputy. The sad fact is it could have been worse - it could have been much worse. Many countries around the world have not even started their vaccination programmes yet, and most EU countries are well behind us. We are in the top three or four European countries now in terms of the speed of the roll-out. Yes, there are countries ahead of us, the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel, for example, but those countries are not part of the European Union. The vaccine was approved earlier in those pla…

I will do that. I will contact with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, today or tomorrow to raise this. I agree that if the Department writes a set of guidelines it should follow them. I will definitely look into that and see what the situation is. I very much agree with the Deputy that community employment schemes, rural and urban alike, do really valuable work that needs to be done, whether it is Tidy Towns, meals-on-wheels, community centres or sports clubs. It also provides valuable work experience for people to h…

As I said, I will check out this with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, today or tomorrow. Hopefully I will get back to the Deputy with some clarity.

I will certainly give it consideration. If the Deputy wishes to write to me or to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on the details, we will give it some thought. As the Deputy said, the pubs versus FBD Insurance decision is expected tomorrow. These are significant test cases. It will be interesting to see what decision the courts make. It will have a significant impact potentially on lots of other businesses which had interruption insurance. The question arises whether or not pandemics are covered. I look forward to re…

I thank Deputy Kelly. That decision was not made at Cabinet. It is still pending and still under negotiation. With regard to front-line healthcare workers, it is expected that all will have received both doses of a vaccine by the end of March. Some have already received both doses. Others are still waiting for their first dose.

Yes, those healthcare workers who deal with patients. It is expected that all public facing, front-line facing healthcare workers will have both doses by the end of March. Some do already. Some have not had the first dose yet. Obviously, the AstraZeneca vaccine can now be prioritised for those healthcare workers. To clarify, the number of doses we will receive has not gone down. It is still 1.2 million between the start of the year and the end of March. We will still be able to start vaccinating the over 85s from t…

It may go slower for the over 70s-----

-----but that will allow it to go faster for other groups, including healthcare workers and people under 70 who have-----

I thank the Deputy. I only heard about that the other day and was quite surprised to hear it, quite frankly. It is something I know the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is now aware of and it will be a decision for him as to whether it makes sense to further extend the term of the commission. It is important to say once again that the mother and baby homes commission is independent of Government. It was established by the Oireachtas. It is not controlled by the Government or a crea…

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this important issue. Senator Ahearn and Deputy Cahill have been in touch with my office about it also. The Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Unit needs to be upgraded and modernised to meet Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, standards. I have been informed that it has been asked to make a submission to the review of the national development plan and that it has done exactly that. That review is under way. I do not have an exact timeline but we would expect to have the rev…

I thank the Deputy. I will certainly check that out. Every day there is a new problem when it comes to Brexit. There are many teething problems, as the Deputy says, but it is important to admit that they are not all teething problems. Britain has left the Single Market and the customs union. Frictionless trade with Britain is over. Checks, charges, controls and paperwork are now the new reality when it comes to trade with Britain. That was their decision. We regret it but we have to deal with it. While we will try …

I thank the Deputy. Again, I will check that out with the Road Safety Authority, RSA. I do not see why it could not be done online but I can see an obvious difficulty. How would one know that the person who is doing the test online in their own home is actually the person who is supposed to be doing the test? There would be a difficulty with that. I will definitely make contact with the RSA and see if we can do something because I appreciate the problem is a real one.

I am a really strong supporter of a technological university for the south east. We were not able to make it happen in the previous Government but I am determined it will happen in the early part of this Government, if not in the next couple of months. It is a very important project for the south east, both in terms of enabling students to stay in or come to the region and, from an IDA Ireland perspective, getting more investment in the south east, which is required. It is also helpful for spin-off companies and ca…

As the Deputy knows, there are different types of vacant housing. There are the types in the ownership of local authorities, and those that are not and are privately owned. Funding is available to local authorities to restore and renovate voids in their ownership in order to make them available for people on the housing list. That process has sped up a lot in the past couple of years and the councils have done a good job on that. With privately owned vacant houses, local authorities have compulsory purchase order p…

Under level 5 restrictions, we are allowed to reopen educational facilities. That will happen on a phased basis, starting with special schools quite soon, along with childcare and construction. Much work is being done to enable the safe reopening of those sectors. We are loath to speak too much about opening other sectors because we do not want to give rise to anticipatory behaviour. We know when people anticipate the easing of restrictions, they tend to drop their guard, and we do not want that to happen on this o…

I thank the Deputy. As he is aware, the mother and baby home commission is independent from the Government. It was established by the Oireachtas but is not an agency of the Government, so I cannot answer questions on its behalf. I will see if the Minister with responsibility for these matters can find the answers to those questions. The commission of investigation did the job it was asked to in terms of gathering evidence and making findings. One element very much missing from that process was the opportunity for s…

That is very concerning. As the Deputy appreciates, I cannot comment on individual cases and I do not have information on any individual cases for reasons of privacy and data protection. I will certainly let the Minister know the Deputy expressed these concerns today.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. Many GPs and nurses have already received the vaccine. Some have already received two doses, and all will by the end of March 2021. We will now be able to prioritise the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for healthcare workers such as GPs and nurses. I think home helps are in a different category. They may well be in category 6, but I will have to double check. I did hear that Bantry Hospital had very successfully provided the vaccine to its staff. It is not all …