We have discussed it many times, although not at the Cabinet this week. The Taoiseach, the Ministers of State, Deputies English and Troy, and I have been involved in this. There has been a huge amount of engagement with Mandate, ICTU and, to the extent possible, with the liquidator. I have been in direct contact with Debenhams UK. We have done a lot to try to bring about a solution to this. Most recently, the Workplace Relations Commission, an office under my remit, brought together KPMG and Mandate to see if a sol…

Out of respect to both Deputies, I will reply separately to the two queries. The plan at the moment is not to ease any restrictions and that means that masses can only happen online, as is the case currently. Obviously, 25 people can attend a funeral mass or a wedding but not a regular mass. The Taoiseach met with the four Catholic archbishops to discuss this issue. We hope to be in a position in early December to allow masses to resume again but like any gathering, unfortunately, there is a risk and even if people…

The way the CRSS works is that it compensates businesses whose premises are closed as a consequence of Covid orders. It is supposed to help them with the ongoing running costs of those premises even when they are closed. If a business does not have a premises, then it is not eligible. The people to whom the Deputy refers may be eligible for other grants.

They may be eligible for the wage subsidy scheme and some of the grants that are available through local enterprise offices. It is important to see it as a package.

I cannot really account in the House for the actions of Dublin City Council.

It is a local authority, and I think my own party is in opposition on that particular council. Councils receive funding from lots of different mechanisms. They get direct grants from the Government. They also have money from the property tax, commercial rates and other charges. Ultimately, it is for them to decide how best to deploy their budgets, which amount to more than €1 billion. If there is any way we can give assistance, we will try to do so, but the Deputy must bear in mind that these are local authorities …

I will check that out.

The truth is that I do not know. It is the Department of the Taoiseach that co-ordinates those regulations. There is a list of published essential services and essential work. I do not know for sure if it is on that list or not, but the Department of the Taoiseach will answer the question for the Deputy.

That does seem like an extraordinarily long time to wait to be interviewed in respect of such a serious matter. I do not have information on the matter but I will certainly raise it with my ministerial colleagues and ask them to get back to the Deputy directly.

I am afraid I am not familiar with the particular project, but funding was increased in the budget for 2021 so we would anticipate an announcement of funding for regional and local roads, probably around January or February, so perhaps it can be included in that.

It sounds like a very good idea. Many patients who use St. Luke's come from Carlow and people who do not have cars need to be facilitated. As taxis are extremely expensive, a bus system would be much better. As the Deputy stated, the matter comes under the remit of the Minister for Transport. As she did not have the opportunity to raise it with him, she has raised with me. That is fine. I will make sure he knows she brought it up and that she gets a reply.

As the Deputy pointed out, we already have legislation on working times, stipulating a maximum number of hours that anyone can work in a given week, although it is averaged over 16 weeks in order to facilitate shift work and so on. There is already a law in place in that sense. Working time also includes any of that time at home, but perhaps it is not enough. We engaged in a public consultation on remote working and received more than 500 replies, which is very encouraging. We are now examining a twin-track approac…

We will definitely do that. This is a running sore and a hot issue in the Deputy's constituency and mine, where people have been demanding proper regulation in respect of scramblers and quad bikes for quite some time. On multiple occasions, the Garda has indicated that the laws in place are sufficient, but people on the ground are telling us a very different story. We are determined to do something to improve the situation and that will involve the Departments of Transport and Justice and other Departments..

I appreciate that this is a real problem. Before the pandemic, we reached the point where the numbers on waiting list for tests were quite low but they are now quite high again. We need to bear in mind that we need to protect the health and safety of driving instructors and testers - I know the Deputy will also want to do that - and this means that there are fewer slots than there used to be. The Road Safety Authority has put in place a system whereby people who need a driving test because they are required to driv…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which is very much a priority for Government. We are determined to make more progress on it. Much has been done already with the town and village renewal scheme in recent years through the Department of Rural and Community Development. However, we need to accelerate it. When we see it done in a town, it is great to see derelict buildings being brought back into use for housing or for community use and to see old banks that were closed being reinvented as enterprise hubs s…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The transport budget for next year contains additional funding for local and regional roads and also for low-cost safety improvement works. It will be the first quarter in the new year before the Minister for Transport is in a position to allocate that.

Deputy Doherty raised this earlier and I stand by the reply given to him.

I will certainly pursue that matter. It is important that we give people as much information as we can about these issues. We have seen a really significant reduction in the incidence of the virus throughout Ireland, but not so much in Donegal. The numbers have only come down slightly in Donegal. East Donegal in particular seems to have a high incidence of the virus. In the other Border counties, it is actually going very well. This does create a concern for everyone, not least people in Donegal, who want to know t…

On the issue of the pension age, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, will bring legislation through the Houses before Christmas to retain the State pension age at 66 years. That legislation will be done before Christmas, so nobody need be concerned that the commitment will not be honoured because it will be. Deputy Smyth raised the issue of road funding for counties Cavan and Monaghan. Transport Infrastructure Ireland funding is usually released in December and regional and local road funding will…

I thank the Taoiseach, the leader of the Green Party, my party colleagues, colleagues in Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies for their words of support. First of all, I wish to restate my apology to the House. I am sorry for my actions that gave rise to tonight's motion and I accept sole responsibility for them. While my motivations were sound, the manner in which I conducted myself was not. I do regret this and I have learned from it. This is the first time I have faced a motion of no confidence or a motion of co…