I share Deputy Smyth's sentiments. We all want this facility open as soon as possible. I am afraid I do not have information on this matter today, but I will let the Minister know the issue was raised by the Deputy and ask that she receive a written reply as soon as possible.

I cannot give as clear a reply as I would like because some of these issues are still being worked out. I can say that the cross-border directive ceases to apply to Northern Ireland and Great Britain when those areas leave the European Union on 1 January. It will continue to apply for people travelling to other parts of the European Union, but we are trying to put alternative arrangements in place to maintain the status quo when it comes to cross-border healthcare. Existing arrangements which see people, for exampl…

There has been a deterioration in air quality recently. Some of that is down to meteorological conditions, but obviously the backdrop is pollution from cars, which has probably gone down because fewer people are travelling in their cars, and the increased burning of smoky solid fuels now that more people are at home. The difficulty is that this is not just because of smoky coal. A large and growing part of it is down to people burning other solid fuels, such as wood, turf and peat briquettes. In respect of their im…

We can certainly look at that. As the Deputy knows, however, the review is under way and I do not know what the outcome will be. The issue raised by the Deputy can certainly be examined.

This is a matter for the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. I am not across the details, but I will let him know this issue was raised and ask him to contact Deputy O'Rourke.

I met with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, last night on this issue of school places in the Dublin 15 area, with particular emphasis on Edmund Rice College and Pelletstown Educate Together National School. Those projects need to go ahead. Work needs to start on the new schools on the new permanent sites. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has agreed to come back to me on the matter as soon as she can. We are all on the same side. We all want to get those schools under construction and we all acknowledge it is ov…

I thank the Deputy for the question. I am aware of this problem. Some of my constituents have been in touch with me about it too. I will engage with the Minister for Social Protection on it. It needs to be sorted out before Christmas. I agree with the Deputy in that regard. I do not understand why this is still a problem. Other employers do not seem to have such a difficulty filling in these forms correctly. I do not want to finger Aer Lingus unfairly without knowing all the facts but it does seem strange that this…

I am advised the legislation will be in for the next term, dealing with both cost-rental and the shared equity scheme so that more people can qualify for affordable housing.

I listened to "Newstalk" this morning and I heard the representative of My Lovely Horse Rescue setting out the animal welfare issues relating to horses, which was quite shocking. I was struck by the remark that it is possible to buy a horse in Ireland for as little as €10, which is extraordinary. I know some horses are well looked after but a lot are not and that is not right. In this country we have a particular attachment to horses and we hate to see them maltreated. The law is in place but, as the Deputy stated,…

The Deputy will be aware that there are 15 levels in the prioritisation schedule agreed by Cabinet last Tuesday. The schedule is based entirely on medical and scientific advice and Government did not alter it in any way. We are very much guided by the doctors and scientists regarding vaccination, starting with those at most risk, which is those aged over 65 in nursing homes, moving on to healthcare workers and then others based on age, disease status and risk profile. As we said at the time, nothing is set in stone…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Throughout the course of 2020 and this pandemic we have seen nurses and midwives doing an extraordinary job in our health service, as indeed have all healthcare workers, including doctors, therapists, cleaners, porters, people working in our laboratories and people working in administration, without whom no front-line worker could do his or her job. It has been an excellent and professional job. It is not fair to say that they have been taken for granted. We have seen a ve…

I thank the Deputy. Praise, applause and kind words do not pay any bills or butter any parsnips. I am very aware of that. I am as aware of it as the Deputy is. That is why we have ensured our healthcare workers in Ireland are better paid than is the case in many European countries, such as the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland where they went on strike not very long ago and where the Deputy’s party is in office. That is why we ensured that all healthcare workers received two pay rises this year, albeit modest …

Those are valid and good questions and I do not necessarily have answers to them all. The Deputy deserves answers to them and I will make sure he gets them. To answer the questions I can answer, the Government is in control. The Cabinet is in control and makes decisions based on advice, as it should. The Minister for Health is the lead Minister when it comes to the vaccine programme, as he is for every other vaccine programme and as he should be. The task force will report on 11 December, I believe. It is chaired b…

I thank the Deputy. On the issue of companies providing the vaccine privately, it is a matter we will have to examine. We certainly would not want it to undermine in any way our programme of vaccination, which will be free of charge and based on need. It might be the case, however, that the company that produces the vaccine will want to vaccinate its own staff. We would have to think long and hard about preventing it from doing so considering that it developed the vaccine. On whether legislation will be needed for …

When we think about the history and economy of the midlands, certainly for most of the past hundred years it has been dominated by two semi-State bodies, namely, ESB and Bord na Móna. They have provided well-paid and secure jobs that, in turn, create other jobs because of spending in the local economy by people who work in the ESB and Bord na Móna. That is going to change as we make the transition from brown to green and from a carbon-based economy to a zero-carbon economy. That does not mean it cannot be changed f…

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, informs me that the current planning permission for the two sites include an obligation to decommission the power plants and remediate the sites by the end of 2022. Prior to any development opportunity taking place, the ESB must satisfy the legal obligation to remediate the existing sites. In addition, I understand that the power plant equipment cannot be used for any purpose beyond December 2020 because neither the planning consents nor environmental licences cover any such issue. …

It is an important day on which the Deputy raises these disability issues. I thank him for raising them and I would be interested in seeing a copy of that survey if he wants to pass it on to my office later on. When I was elected Taoiseach three years or so ago, one of the things I said we would do on the first day I was elected was ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It had not been ratified for decades by previous governments and there was always an excuse as to why it could not b…

I will speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the timelines but it is something we intend to do. There are many countries, for example, in eastern Europe, that nobody would argue have better conditions or services for people with disabilities than Ireland and they signed the convention ten and 20 years ago because they just signed it. Our approach has always been different to every convention of the UN. We do not just sign it. We make sure we meet or at least appro…

I thank the Deputy. On foot of him raising the matter with me in the Dáil a few weeks ago, I sought and received a written report on that matter, which I have read and raised with the Minister for Health personally and with his Secretary General. I would be happy to send the Deputy a copy of the report that I received, which is an overview of what occurred and an outline of what will be done.

The rights and wrong of the bank bailout and guarantee could be and, no doubt, will be debated for decades but I am certain that, had they not been bailed out, all of those staff would have lost their jobs ten or 12 years ago. That is exactly what happened to the staff at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and other banks which were allowed to fail. The banking sector is changing, like many sectors. It is moving online, being digitalised and automated. That is happening in the real world around us. The vast majority of…