I do not think that 30 seconds will do justice to what I have to say so I will use it to say that the way that the speaking time is being dealt with is so undemocratic. It lacks diversity-----

With all due respect, and this is not aimed at the Acting Chairman, but the general point-----

----- with due respect to Senator Byrne-----

-----who said that the Opposition was not here, is that if we did not have politicians using up time to get back into the Dáil and talking about local politics and-----

----- if they actually cared about the Seanad, I would have a voice in here.

I thank the Minister of State for being here. I welcome the Bill, which will shortly create a new Department to represent higher and further education, research and innovation at Cabinet. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State on their expected appointments at the Department once the legal changes are finalised and I wish them both well in their new roles. I welcome the Bill in that at least it is a demonstration by the incoming Government that it intends to approach higher education …

I want to speak briefly about some of the new Ministers, especially our colleague from the previous Seanad, the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, who has a hugely important brief concerning drug policy and the national drugs strategy. I plead with the Minister of State to slow down and to give himself time to understand the issue. I worked very closely with the Minister of State who played several football matches with people who have experienced drug abuse and drug use. Unfortunately, in the past few days, he has…

I join with everybody in thanking our front-line staff, both in our hospitals and care homes, as well as in addiction services and homeless services who are struggling right now to maintain staff and get crisis staff in. I would urge again, as I did last week, to remember there are other services outside of our traditional health services which also need relief staff. This should be communicated with anybody we know in the social care setting. I also send my sympathies to the families of the ten people who have pas…

I thank the Acting Chairman and welcome the Minister. It is probably the first time we have had the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in here. Am I wrong?

The Minister is very welcome.

It is the first time I have had the pleasure of an exchange with the Minister in the Chamber, unfortunately, under these circumstances. My amendment No. 7 is similar to Senator Higgins's amendment No. 6. I welcome the Bill and the provisions relating to housing which implement a ban on evictions and a rent freeze for the period of the Covid-19 emergency. This will initially be a three-month period that can be extended by the Government under section 4. However, I am concerned about the criteria that will be used to…

I ask the Minister to bear with me, as I want to make sure I understand correctly what is proposed. We talk about having the provisions in for public health and that they are the only provisions we can use at this time for balancing this out against property rights over a period. I am struggling to understand when a matter is public health and when it is not. If we are to look at what public health means, it goes beyond just the spread of this specific disease. Public health is a much wider point and feeds so much …

I was speaking to the amendment.

It is in relation to the criteria. We are setting out the criteria as public health.

I move amendment No. 7: In page 8, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following: "(iv) the nature and potential impact of Covid-19 on individuals, society and the State, (v) the capacity of the State to respond to the risk to public health posed by the spread of Covid-19, (vi) the policies and objectives of the Government to protect the health and welfare of members of the public, (vii) the need to mitigate the social and economic effects of the spread of Covid-19, (viii) the policies and objectives of the Govern…

I move amendment No. 10: In page 8, to delete lines 16 to 18. This legislation will allow people who may have been served a notice to quit during the Covid-19 emergency period to remain in their homes for the duration of this public health crisis, which is welcome. Within these provisions, there is explicit recognition that evictions come with very serious negative social impacts and should be prevented, where possible, particularly at a time of crisis. However, eviction will still come with massive social and econ…

How do we know what a landlord's intention was before the Covid-19 emergency? We will have significant numbers of landlords saying that it was always their intention not to continue the lease after a time. What type of protections will we have such that we do not just see another loophole for landlords who want to evict people who have lost their jobs so that they can find tenants who have not lost their jobs, and who have not given an adequate period for those tenants to get back into employment? It goes back to t…

I move amendment No. 11: In page 9, to delete lines 3 and 4.

This section would ensure that proceedings of the Tenancy Tribunal, which makes judgments on disputes between landlords and tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act, would be held in private for the duration of the crisis. I wish to hear the Government's reason for such a move. If there is public health advice advising this move that I am not aware of, I will be happy to withdraw my opposition to the section, but my instinct is that we need more public oversight and accountability of the regulation of our housin…

I am happy to withdraw my opposition to the section.