No, that is exactly what I said, or more or less what I said, back in November. Of course I got the document from the Department of Health. Where else would I have got it from? The only people who had it were the Department of Health and the IMO. I hardly got it from the IMO, so of course I got it from the Department of Health, through the Minister, Deputy Harris, and my special adviser. She has that record, she has that document and it was released already under FOI. It is the document from 3 April. I had no later…

Just be to clear, on 17 April, the Minister for Health requested the current draft - so a later, more up-to-date draft, presumably - appreciating that there were ongoing tweaks.

There was a third draft and ongoing tweaks. He got it the day he requested it.

I thank the Deputy for her questions. The passenger locator form has been in place for many months, as she knows. It has not worked out to be as robust a measure as was needed. That is why the Government made changes in recent weeks in response to the fact that we are now concerned about new variants entering the country from other parts of the world. Now, anybody who is entering the State by air or by sea, with the exception of supply chain workers, hauliers, pilots and cabin crew, for example, has to have a PCR t…

People coming in from the United Kingdom or South Africa — there are no direct flights from South Africa but people could come in from other airports — are required to have a negative PCR test before landing in the country. It is mandatory. They are then strongly advised to self-isolate for 14 days; that is not mandatory. On sharing information with Northern Ireland, we have an information exchange. I understand there are some difficulties with our sharing data with Northern Ireland. We are very happy to do so, in …

Obviously, the buck stops with the HSE in this regard. I do not know whether the national outbreak team has been established yet. I will find out for the Deputy. In general, we all appreciate the Covid situation is very serious. We are still seeing more than 2,000 cases per day. More than 200 people are in intensive care, and about 2,000 are in hospital. Case numbers and the number of hospitalisations are starting to fall slightly but not at the pace we would like. While no decision has yet been made on restriction…

I will check the position on the national outbreak control team. I am not sure whether it has been established yet, but it is fair to say the settings in question are healthcare settings. Many people in healthcare settings will have Covid and many will have other illnesses. They are very susceptible to Covid and that is why infection control is so important. Hospitals, nurse managers and doctors are very well-trained in infection control and have the support of microbiology teams, for example, to advise them. When …

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate the extent to which the ESB and Bord na Móna were the mainstays of employment in the midlands and how important this is to Laois and Offaly in particular and the region as a whole. Where there is a just transition, it has to be not just for workers and former workers, but for the communities as well. Somebody may get a good package to retire or become redundant but the payroll loss to the town or community can have a huge impact, so we need to see it in the round. Bord na Móna no lo…

We need to act to stop climate change. If we do not, many more jobs will be lost through the climate chaos that would ensue. We need to think short, medium and long term when it comes to the trade-off between jobs and industry on the one hand and protecting our environment on the other. If we do not stop climate change, the impacts o Ireland could be severe on many of our industries, not least agriculture and tourism. In terms of the climate actions we take, we need to ensure we do it in such a way that we do not s…

I thank the Deputy. I did not have an opportunity to watch that programme but I am going to. I have recorded it and many people have said to me that it is essential viewing for all of us as politicians. I will make a point of doing that. On the local county rule, if you like, it seems to be very unfair that somebody would be turned down for a place and left on the streets because they were not in the right county at the time. There may be a good reason for it. I do not know what the explanation is but I will certai…

As the Deputy mentioned, a memorandum of understanding, MOU, is in place between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It operates mainly at Chief Medical Officer, CMO, to Chief Medical Officer level, so it is Dr. Tony Holohan and Dr. Michael McBride who mainly operate the MOU, but of course there is close contact between the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister, Robin Swann, in Northern Ireland. Regularly, there are meetings involving the First Minister, the deputy First Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs a…

Certainly, when it comes to the religious orders, it is our view that they should make a substantial contribution. The State has to take primary responsibility for what happened in those institutions but the religious orders have responsibility as well. We will be, and have been, calling on them to make a contribution. Whether we are able to enforce that if they do not make one, we just do not know at this stage, but that is something the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will be working on.

I am really glad to hear that the medical cannabis programme is now a reality. There have been a number of false dawns over the years but I read the other day that it is now becoming a reality. It is a long time coming and I acknowledge the Deputy's role in bringing us to this point as one of the people who led the charge for legislation in this area early on. As for which conditions qualify, that has to be a clinical decision made by medical specialists rather than by politicians. They will have to make that decis…

I do not have an exact date but I am told it is almost ready and that it will be before the Houses in the very near future. Hopefully, that means it will be enacted by the summer recess, if not before. I do not know whether it is going to be retrospective. In general, unfortunately, legislation like that cannot be, but it will be important to get it done.

The prioritisation is assessed by the national immunisation advisory council, NIAC, and signed off by the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET. It is based on medical need and medical risk, with those most at risk of getting sick and dying being vaccinated first. That means residents in nursing homes, with those most at risk of contracting it - healthcare workers - getting it second. We will then move on to the over-70s. We hope to start vaccinating them next month and that, by the end of March, 1 million p…

It may well be, and Irish Water has an increase in its capital budget for this year to carry out repairs and improvements in Dublin and throughout the country. It has been designated as essential construction, so it can go ahead with that.

I am afraid I do not know the answers to the Deputy's questions as to how many people will be employed, but I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to give him an update if he can, as the Minister with responsibility for the port. I do not believe that my Department has received any application for funding for the business park, but if there is one, we will certainly look at it favourably.

We have signed the contract for the national broadband plan. That is a €3 billion investment in rural Ireland, probably the biggest ever investment in rural Ireland and perhaps the most significant since rural electrification. With that plan, we are able to connect approximately 100,000 farms, businesses and homes across rural Ireland to high-speed broadband every year. We would love to be able to do it more quickly. It will take between five and seven years, unfortunately. I know that is a huge disappointment for …

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has engaged with NBI on this. He and I together have engaged with Eir on it and we are exploring any possibilities that exist to speed up the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Unfortunately, it is running a little bit behind because of Covid-19. It is running a few months behind but we want to accelerate it and, if possible, make it a four- to five-year programme rather than the seven-year programme it is now. At a minimum, however, we will connect 100,000 homes, farms and business…

Parents' benefit or paid parental leave was brought in by the previous Government and is very much one of our proudest achievements to try to improve work-life balance and help parents. That legislation is supposed to be brought in during this session, which will then allow it to be introduced later in the year.