I thank the Deputy for the question. The budget for the National Parks and Wildlife Service has been increased in recent years and I am confident it will be again. We have some fabulous national parks in Ireland. A lot of people will have an opportunity to discover them over the next couple of months. I was in the Burren National Park last weekend. I encourage people to visit but not in too large numbers because it does take away from it when there are too many people there. It is difficult for me to answer the que…

The Cabinet will meet in Dublin Castle this afternoon. At that meeting, all things going to plan, the Government will agree the July stimulus package and publish it this afternoon. The package will, of course, require debate in the House, including legislation next week. Until the decision is made by Cabinet I cannot reveal the contents of it but all of the matters that Deputies have raised will be considered. Deputy Boyd Barrett asked what is a stimulus. Stimulus is the Government pumping money into the economy. T…

The Deputy makes a very good argument. I am not up to date on the matter. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is here and she may be up to date on it but if not I will seek a reply from the Department for the Deputy.

It is not necessary for people to purchase surgical masks or respiratory masks. I look around the House today and I see a large number of Deputies who are wearing cloth face coverings. That will suffice-----

They can be reused and washed and they are more environmentally friendly than disposable ones.

This is an important issue. I understand that a mechanism is in place for small schools that were due to lose a teacher to have that decision appealed or reviewed. I do not know whether there are plans to have a moratorium. As I mentioned earlier, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, will be here to take oral questions next week. The deadline is still open for Deputies to submit questions and I am sure she will be happy to answer them in detail.

I cannot answer the Deputy's question specific to Belmullet hospital but I will ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to correspond with her on that. There is no moratorium. We have 15,000 more health staff now than only a few years ago and we are recruiting all the time. Bed capacity is being increased. Three new hospitals are under construction in the country, one of which, the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, has recently been completed, while new hospital wings have been built …

I believe that legislation will be on the autumn schedule, when we come back in September.

I am glad to hear the facility is being upgraded to comply with HIQA standards and I am sure the Deputy is too, but it is not right that families are not communicated with and that should happen. I will certainly let the Minister for Health know that the matter was raised and, perhaps, he will be able to contact her directly.

I think we would all agree that our hospices in Ireland provide excellent end-of-life care, both in terms of hospice care and home care. There has been a significant increase in capacity in our hospices in recent years. The hospice in Mayo opened only in the past year or so, I think a new hospice is due to open in Wicklow soon, while there are new hospice developments both in Waterford, in the Dunmore wing, and in Drogheda. Much progress is being made in this regard. A "region" does not mean a town or a county; it …

I nominate the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to take that question.

Deputy Colm Burke only mentioned this matter to me recently as well. I do not have detailed information on it but I know it is a matter of concern for people in Cork. I will see the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, later today and I will let him know the matter was raised here and ask him to reply to both Deputies.

I know the drug was approved for use some months ago if not last year. However, the process is not straightforward and this is not just a medicine that can be given to a patient, including children. This must be administered in hospital in a particular way. The Children's Health Ireland group, including the Crumlin hospital, must scale that up over time. It has committed to doing this but it has been held back a bit by restrictions relating to Covid-19.

It is not a bad idea. The Deputy makes a valid point and this is something we will examine between now and the announcement on phase 4. We have some time over the next couple of weeks to examine the matter. I am not a public health expert but if people on stage are adequately socially distanced, it should be okay. That would apply if a comedian was on his or her own or if people are reasonably separated on stage. It should be possible. It is something we will consider between now and any announcement in the run-up …

The programme for Government commits to making the metro link happen. I know it has been promised for a long time and I want this to be the Government that at least gets construction under way. It is targeted for 2023 but I will see the relevant Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, this afternoon. I know he is committed to it as well and very keen to see the project completed. I hope that by the time it opens Dublin Airport will be busy again. We would not quite need the capacity now even if we had it but we will need it i…

I very much agree with Deputy Doherty that the tourism, hospitality and travel sector is a significant part of the economy. A quarter of a million more people are working in that sector, which is very dependent on travel, both international and domestic. It is a sector that was hit hardest first and will probably be affected the longest as a result of this pandemic. While people running pubs and hotels will be very disappointed at the decision the Government took last night they will acknowledge that the decision w…

I think there is a strong case for putting in place actions that would help to stimulate demand, but we need to be honest with people too. Stimulating demand will be no good to a pub or nightclub that is closed or to a wedding venue that cannot hold weddings for more than 50 people. That approach has its benefits but it also has its limitations. I have no doubt Deputy O'Reilly will produce a very long shopping list of everything that we could do. Up until yesterday she would have said she would pay for it with the …

There is a limit to how much one can have in any stimulus package.

We want to keep borrowing to no more than €30 billion this year. We will take in about €50 billion in tax and we will spend €80 billion. A €30 billion deficit is pretty huge. It may be the biggest we have ever had. We are spending a lot of money. We are borrowing a lot of money. That is the right thing to do but it is wrong to suggest the money is unlimited and one can just do everything on the list. One has to prioritise. It is not credible to produce a very long list every day and to add to it.

In terms of Deputy Doherty's question on pubs, NPHET has not been asked to advise on that. I understand the point the Deputy makes and I think it is a valid one. If we could open pubs with very strict social distancing, that could potentially work. The problem we have seen on a number of occasions is that when people are consuming alcohol, for example in house parties, on the streets or even in restaurants, it is very hard to maintain social distancing. That is a real difficulty. One thing that is fundamental to pu…