I thank the Minister of State for his response. Part of the issue is when we end up in government we have to say different things. I do not doubt the Minister of State's commitment. As a former Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, I know more than anybody that he would be least likely to go native as quickly as others in the past. The answer prepared for him is that all of these rules are set by Europe, it is a commercial decision for the company and so on. The programme for Government, however, gives a cl…

I welcome the news about the group the Minister of State chairs. Ultimately, the Government needs to consider the establishment of a State bank, which was not far away from Fianna Fáil, or indeed Fine Gael, policy in the past. Both the Minister and the Minister of State need to unite around the Cabinet table and look at the establishment of a State financial services provider, be that in banking, which we will go into another day and I had the opportunity to do so some weeks ago, or insurance. If there is one way o…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, again and ask him if we will make contact with the insurance industry chiefs and request that the annual premium renewals are reduced for sports clubs that are being hit by very large premiums.

I thank the Minister of State for that reply. I am aware of his response to the State getting involved in financial services and he mentioned Irish Public Bodies, IPB Insurance. Is it possible, perhaps, when it comes to community initiatives such as sports clubs, not-for-profit organisations, local festivals and such events, playgrounds and so on, that IPB Insurance could be considered as the insurer for such a situation? As to a State bank, the Minister of State mentioned that we had a high shareholding in so many…

I thank the Minister of State very much for his words but to conclude, there are many reasons not to do something. Real leadership is having the courage to do things. I would like to see the State ultimately entering the financial services world. I do not trust any of the banks, whether we are shareholders in them or not, and I am a former employee of one of them. I do not trust any of our insurance companies either because, as I said here some weeks ago, their business is cold profitability being delivered through…

I have been raising the issue of vaccine supply publicly since 2 January and, indeed, privately before that with the Taoiseach. I am glad to see the rest of the Oireachtas is now raising it. I am well used to Governments not listening to me but at this stage we are hearing about the matter from every quarter, party colleagues and every Deputy across the House. I hope we can begin to listen. Our supply procurement has been an abject failure. Where we stand by comparison with the next worst in the league is of no int…

I thank my colleagues for sharing time. I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their work over this challenging period on designing the return to school. Inevitably, it will never be quick enough for any of us but we are delighted a start has been made. I also thank all of the staff of the Department of Education, the teachers, staff of schools throughout the country, the unions and all associated with engineering the pathway we now have. It is great to see at least some children back in school at this earl…

Everything changes yet everything stays the same. Professor Sean Barrett of Trinity College Dublin, a former Senator, used to have a phrase when he was in that House, "There is a back stairs for the banks into the Department of Finance". We were in government when he first said that but nothing has changed and that notional back stairs is still very much there. We formulate policy to facilitate the banks' profitability and tell the people it is in the systemic interest of all communities. I am not against profitabi…

I am glad to have the opportunity to make a few points. We all support the legislation to introduce quarantines. I take the view that if we are doing it, we should do it for everybody. During the week, the Tánaiste said that if people are coming from the Isle of Man, there is no Covid there and we do not want to hold them up. The primary issue for me is trying to get back to some level of normality for people who are suffering. All of us, and particularly young people, have had enough of all the restrictions and th…

I thank the Ministers of State for the opportunity to speak. As always, my worry is not the commitment of the Ministers of State to their job. I know personally that they are focused on the issue of mental health. The difficulty is that consecutive governments, certainly in my political career, have paid lip service to the issue of mental health when it came to resourcing. We had A Vision for Change that we all rallied around and in its entire lifetime we managed to implement approximately 40% of it. It is one of t…

I am glad to have this opportunity to make a few points on childcare. With regard to the systems and structures review I caution against any change to the county childcare committees, which have been serving us very well. More resourcing and supports for these structures is a better way to go rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. I was concerned when the Minister took office that this was a suggestion, and I hope it is one he will suppress because it is a good structure. It is one that can work and, with the pr…

No, I am here in my own right. I understood that myself and Deputy Dillon were sharing time.

I am happy to take it.

If he comes in, the Ceann Comhairle might point that out to me. I am glad to have the opportunity to engage with the Minister and Minister of State and make a few points. Obviously, it is common sense for us, as per the motion, to extend the EWSS without which the misery of the last nine or ten months would have been much worse for people throughout the country. Initially it was pitched at the wrong level, perhaps, but we amended it fairly quickly to give people some level of support while at the same time ensuring…

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to make some points. Like Deputy Moynihan, I will simply make a statement and ask that the Minister take the points on board. I want to make three points. The Minister made the point that our role is to make policy. Our role is a little more than that. Our role is to provide leadership in what is a difficult time. It must be reflective of the front-line workers whether they be cashiers or shelf packers in retail outlets, our heroic healthcare professionals or front-li…

I wish to share time with Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for being here to listen to my plea. I very much support today's resolution and the CRSS, but I have to use my time to point out an anomaly with it. Before I do that, I would like to say the Government is extremely well-placed to adjust and increase supports, given, on the one hand, the better-than-expected performance in respect of corporation tax and Exchequer revenue generally. Second, as alluded …

I thank the Minister of State. This legislation is on the back of a directive and there is not much to disagree with in it. I want to use of the time available to make a few points, however. First, with regard to the transposition of directives, previous Deputies have said there is form here on waiting until the last minute of the last hour of the last day, which does not augur well in terms of our reputation in the European context. Indeed, during the formulation of directives, before it even gets to the directive…

To use my time efficiently, I just want to make a statement and a few points. The Minister can use other time to respond to me or he can write to me. I do not want him to eat into Deputy Lawless's time by answering me. As I said last week, it is crystal clear to me that we did not prepare adequately. This is borne out by the fact that senior consultants in the Coombe Women's Hospital were bringing in the family and friends to use the additional doses, even though they could have been put in a taxi or an ambulance a…

I do not wish the Minister to respond to me, because I want to use my time to put a few points on the record. I ask that he take the points on board and, if he feels the needs to respond, he might do so in writing at a later time. I was involved in the export business for many years. I am glad I am not involved in it now. I would respectfully suggest that until such time as we get through the Brexit teething problems, the Government needs to select and appoint, on a statutory basis, a supply chain general. It must …

I am concluding. In case we are worried about being poor Europeans, I would point out that when Angela Merkel said in January, "We don't want national solo runs and think the most effective protection for us can be reached with a European approach.", none of us knew that she had her own little side deal already done for the German people. While being good Europeans, let us also put the Irish people first on this matter.