As the Deputy knows, I am here for three hours today to hear Members' statements and answer questions. I am happy to do that and to be held to account for as long as I hold this office. I agree with the Deputy that it is sending the wrong message that I spent two hours in the Chamber and one hour here, but that happened because of a procedural row and a vote that went on for an hour and was unnecessary. If anybody sent the wrong message to the public, it is not the public health people but some of the Independent D…

That is my view on that. With regard to the coláistí samhraidh, the Minister is working on a package to help them. We want to do something to help them because I realise they will be financially hit by having no income for the summer. However, we must ensure we do it in a way that is fair. There are many other groups in society and other businesses and organisations that will not get their summer income either because of the pandemic and we cannot do something for one sector and not have regard to what other sector…

I thank the Deputy. I will come back to her on the summer colleges once I have more information on what the package is and what may not be possible. On children with special needs, we are totally aligned on our concern about that issue. I share the Deputy's desire to do something for children with special needs over the summer to ensure they get the education, attention and therapy that they need. NPHET is doing a lot of work at the moment on how that might become possible. On the two-hour rule, we do make our own …

I thank the Deputy. I might be out of date on this but the last time I was briefed on this, which was a week or two ago, the estimate for the cost of testing for Covid this year will be somewhere between €400 million and €450 million. That is because of the fact that the tests cost about €200 a go, which is a lot of money. I might be out of date but that is the most recent briefing I had on it.

I think the cost of tests will come down. Everything in healthcare is at a premium at the moment, whether PPE or testing kits. Everyone is looking for the same stuff and the cost is very high, but I think the cost of testing will come down. The Deputy is right that in Austria, one can have a test done in the airport but one has to bear the cost of €190. No work has been done in our airports that I am aware of to see if we can set up testing there, but we can give it consideration. The direction of travel in policy …

We hope to get driver testing going again as soon as possible when it is safe to do so. Somebody suggested that part of the solution might be a Perspex partition between the passenger seat and the driver's seat, and having a similar solution for taxis. That is being examined. I totally appreciate that we need to get testing started as soon as possible. A car means freedom in large parts of the country, particularly rural Ireland. People need to do their tests so they can take up employment that they need.

Déanaimid comhbhrón leis na teaghlaigh a fuair a ndaoine muinteartha bás ar an oileán de thoradh Covid-19. Táim ag smaoineamh ar na daoine atá ag fulaingt ón víreas, chomh maith leo siúd atá ag troid i gcoinne an víris gach lá. Bhuail an ghéarchéim ár dtír go trom. De réir mar a n-osclóimid ár dtír agus ár ngeilleagar á thógáil againn, tá deis againn ár sochaí a athmhúnlú sa chaoi go mbainfidh ár saoránaigh buntáistí as, chomh maith leis na glúine a tiocfaidh inár ndiaidh. Once again, our thoughts are with the fami…

I acknowledge that this is a very real problem and one that we want to solve. Women who went on maternity leave and are now due to return to work want to be able to avail of the wage subsidy scheme and we want them to be able to avail of it as well. I do not need to direct the Minister to do anything about this. He is already working on it. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners are working on a solution. Identifying a problem is much easier than coming up with a solut…

The Deputy is absolutely spot on regarding this matter. Every crisis does create opportunities, and one of the opportunities that arises out of this crisis is to provide more space on our streets for pedestrians with wider footpaths as well as more space for cyclists. We have already seen a big increase in the number of people cycling into Dublin city centre in recent years, but it is still way lower than in other cities of our scale across Europe. We would like to see much more cycling in cities such as Cork, Galw…

The package we have put in place for SMEs is substantial. It involves a three-month rates waiver and a rates rebate of up to €10,000 to make any adaptations a business may need in order to buy new stock for reopening or to do whatever else it needs. Under the wage subsidy scheme, the Government will pay the bulk of staff wages for a period. There are also loan guarantees and credit lines. It is substantial when one puts it all together, but that is not to say that it could not be added to. We are open to suggestion…

One of the things that other jurisdictions have done differently, and that we may have done differently if we had known everything that we know now, is that they did not fully close schools. In Northern Ireland and certain other parts of Europe, schools were not fully closed down but, rather, kept open for a certain number of essential workers' children and those with particular special needs. If we were to do this all over again, the advice from NPHET might be different and we might keep schools open in some way. …

I am happy to acknowledge the points the Deputy made, which are very well made. We do have a plan for reopening the economy and society. It is published and is being implemented. It is also, however, a living document that can be amended, updated and clarified as we go on. That is what is happening. Ultimately, any decisions made on reopening the country, the economy and society are made by Government on foot of advice from NPHET. I would not rule out the idea of having a task force, but by their very nature task f…

I cannot make those commitments in the Chamber but I will certainly give them consideration. On the €6.5 billion for business, what the Deputy said is a little misleading. That is for business and incudes the arts and entertainment sector. I appreciate that everyone in arts and entertainment is not a business but many are. It is also a huge industry and of course that €6.5 billion is also open to them. The €1 million provided was for particular projects through the Arts Council of Ireland. There is a huge amount of…

Anyone over 66 is eligible for either the contributory State pension or the non-contributory State pension. Given the fact that some people may have dependants, many of those in receipt of the State pension, contributory or non-contributory, will actually get more than €350. That option is there for people who need it. What we are not doing is paying people the pension as well as the pandemic unemployment payment. That would be two benefits. Almost all taxi drivers are self-employed. Anyone who is self-employed who…

On the Deputy's first question, I do not have that date but I will see if we can find that out for him. The answer to the Deputy's second question is "No, absolutely not." On the Deputy's third question, I would have to give the matter consideration but I am not sure it is practical. It is not the approach we take in healthcare, for example, or in many parts of the public service. If somebody tests positive, we do not shut down the hospital in question, the Dáil or wherever. I am not sure we would apply to meat pla…

I thank Deputy Shanahan for his remarks. In particular, I echo his words of thanks to that great Waterfordman Dan Mulhall, our ambassador in the United States, who has done a lot of work getting people safely home. As the Deputy is probably aware, my Department is made up of 150 civil servants. While they are great people, I am afraid they just do not have the wherewithal to take on the project management of specific projects, be they associated with catheterisation laboratories, motorways or other infrastructural …

The funding has been released by the Department of Health to the HSE. If there is any problem with the funding, I have not been informed of it. I know there is a delay in getting the works done but I will check with the CEO of the HSE today whether there is any difficulty with the funding.

This is something I have spoken about before. As I understand it, the most recent advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is 2 m. The distance of 2 m is used in the United Kingdom and mostly across Europe as well. I see in other countries like Australia and New Zealand they are talking about 1.5 m. I see that the World Health Organization is talking about 1 m. This is under review. I think we all agree that getting the country going again would be far more practical, especially in schools…

I join the Deputy in welcoming the establishment of the tourism recovery task force, which is under the chairmanship of Ms Ruth Andrews, whom I worked with when I was the Minister responsible for tourism. I know she will do a really great job. I remember when I was Minister with responsibility for tourism many years ago, the sector was going through a very bad patch but recovered very quickly. It is an amazing and resilient industry and it can bounce back. It is the industry that was hit first and worst, and it wil…

I will have to check that.