The Order of Business is No. a 1, Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020 - all Stages, to be taken at 12.15 p.m. with the time allocated to the groups' spokespersons in the debate on Second Stage not to exceed eight minutes each, the contributions of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes each and the Minister to be given no less than eight minutes to reply, and Committee and Remaining Stages to be taken immediately thereafter; No. 2, motion regarding earlier signature of the Financial Provisions …

I will deal at the outset with the issues surrounding Cahersiveen and the direct provision centre. I hear the calls from Members, including from Senator Ó Donnghaile and his party colleagues, to have a debate in the House. I have asked for the Minister for Justice and Equality to come before the House. We are still in discussions with her office on this. The difficulty posed is that there is a lot of legislation to get through here and in the Dáil. The Minister will be at the meeting of the North-South Ministerial …

I apologise. Senator Murphy spoke about Tús and JobPath. There is a particular restriction for those who have access to Tús because of their involvement with JobPath. The Senator is correct in what he has requested, and we should explore it. The six-year rule is quite arbitrary, and it should be more flexible. There is little point in having someone removed from a rural social scheme or a Tús scheme when there are no other available employments.

In order to facilitate the cleaning of the Chamber, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to the effect that No. a 1 be taken at 12.30 p.m.

For the information of the House, as I had said earlier there were genuine attempts to try to get the Minister for Justice and Equality here. I am pleased to announce that she has made an hour available. Unfortunately, that information did not come through before the vote. We were genuinely working to get that space. I thank the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for making that hour available today. Notwithstanding the order of the House today, I propose that the House will now suspend for 30 minutes to allow for cleaning …

I propose that notwithstanding the order of the House today, proceedings on No. a 1 shall be interrupted at 3.15 p.m., whereupon the sitting shall suspend for 30 minutes; statements on the Skellig Star direct provision centre and the future of direct provision, No. a 2 on the Supplementary Order Paper, shall be taken at 3.45 p.m., and shall be brought to a conclusion after 60 minutes, with the opening speech by the Minister for Justice and Equality not to exceed ten minutes, the speeches for the spokespersons for e…

I am sharing my time with Senator McGreehan. This €375 million package involves more than 1 million students, 100,000 staff and 4,000 schools. I commend the Minister, Deputy Foley, her team and the Government for their effort in putting together what I consider to be a comprehensive and significant plan and investment in our education and schooling system. It is an extraordinary feat when we consider what it took to put this plan together in such a short space of time, which involved engaging with many stakeholders…

I am happy to support the Order of Business. I welcome the €750 billion recovery fund at EU level to help with the Covid pandemic. It was a mammoth session in terms of meetings between member states that went on for an unscheduled day to show the seriousness and extent of the recovery package being promised. There was a significant win for Ireland in that it is to be calculated on how our country is hit by the pandemic and not on past economic performance. This will result in additional funding and supports for our…

I am happy to support the Order of Business. Today we are debating further legislation in our battle against Covid-19. It shows the extraordinary lengths this House and Dáil Éireann can go to, to work together for the betterment of our people, and, when times are tough and challenging, the speed with which we can make drastic and sweeping changes that are in the interest of the public good. In that context I wish to raise the childcare issue and a need to re-evaluate. Many people returning to work as we reopen our …

We welcome the debate on the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) Bill 2020 later today. It is the next piece of legislation this House will seek to pass to assist businesses to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and to try to get back up and running as best as possible. As has been said numerous times, we are in this together but we are in this for the long haul. This is not something we will see an end to any time soon. I acknowledge the considerable frustration and upset for many publicans across the country, who will b…

I am pleased to support the election of the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the nominee going forward. I note that the HSE Covid app has gone live today. When I departed Mayo this morning to come to Seanad Éireann, there were just over 17,000 registered users of the app. When I opened it just now, there were more than 250,000 users of the app. It is an extremely important step in our fight against Covid. I hope the app will prove useful in tracing contacts and will help us in the weeks and months ahead as we continue to fi…

I thank Senator Norris. It is a pleasure and a privilege to make my maiden speech in the House today. It is my pleasure and honour to nominate my colleague, Senator Mark Daly, for the position of Cathaoirleach. My maiden speech is not as I imagined, in these strange times and strange surrounds, but it does not lessen the delight and great honour of this occasion. It is fantastic to be here among so many great colleagues in this historic sitting of Seanad Éireann. I will point out that I campaigned strongly to retai…

I strongly believe in the role of the Upper House. It would be a mistake to reduce the oversight this House provides and to concentrate more power in the hands of a few. We have an important democratic role to play in this great country. I shall return to the task at hand and to my colleague, Senator Mark Daly, who I am delighted and privileged to propose for the position of Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann. As a Kerry man, Senator Daly and I will never be on the same side in Croke Park in December this year, but we…