In that case, I will move on.

I call Deputy Alan Farrell on Question No. 67, which is being taken with Question No. 77 in the name of Deputy Dillon.

I will surely be reached. The Deputies should proceed.

The Minister and Minister of State's Department covers some sectors most grievously hit by the effects of this pandemic, including sport, cultural output and tourism. What are the plans for a sustainable recovery of the tourism sector from Covid-19 and the status of plans to tackle issues of climate action and sustainable development in the long term in our tourism recovery plan?

What does "sustainable tourism practices" mean if we are talking about a suite of actions? Surely we want to focus on longer stays rather than getting people in and out of the country quickly? Surely we want to look at more dispersed tourism rather than all the pressure and bed nights being in Dublin? I will naturally refer to Waterford but also to the rest of the country, so that tourism spending is more dispersed. People will increasingly focus on experience rather than consumption. Will we focus on cultural outp…

We would be delighted to have the Minister in Waterford and I would be delighted to show her the sites. I see the Minister of State with responsibility for heritage waiting in the wings. There is a real role in heritage-led development, not only of our towns and villages, but also of our tourism product. Waterford is an outstanding example of that. The Minister of State with responsibility for heritage opened the Museum of Time in Waterford for us last week. Our Museum of Silver will be opened by the Minister for F…

My question is on whether the Minister's attention been drawn to inconsistencies in pricing for regional public transport services. Some PSO fares are more expensive than Expressway fares and some shorter local routes, which are often more used by commuters, are costlier than regional ones?

I thank the Minister for the response but I am not sure it quite gets to the heart of the question. I know we should try not to refer policy from anecdote but this one example is illustrative and indicative of the pricing inconsistency that exists across the country. A PSO service, the 362 service, runs from Dungarvan to Waterford. To get from Dungarvan to Waterford on that PSO service, which is publicly subvented, costs €13.50. The same journey from Dungarvan to Waterford on the Expressway route costs €5. This typ…

On the Minister’s second point on inconsistencies with regard to distances, I would draw his attention to the specific example of Tramore, which was left out of the Waterford metropolitan area transport strategy in what was a serious omission. What we now have is the 360 route as opposed to Waterford to Tramore being considered a city route and part of the city service. That leads to a greater price, given it costs people €2.80 to make a one-way journey on that route, which means it costs one more than a fiver to g…

I raise a few issues arising from my observations as a representative of a coastal community and fishing area and from concerns raised with me by civil society groups and representatives of fishers and other workers in the fishing sector. I have spoken on a number of occasions in the House about the marine and coastal environment in the context of Brexit and its related challenges for the sector and the increased challenges posed by climate change and fishing activities that undermine our overarching goals to prote…

I welcome this debate. The quality of the debate has been good. I listened with interest to the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan's opening remarks. I would make one exception, however. It is unwelcome to hear a specific board of management named on the floor of the Dáil and for a suggestion to be made that the Government pressurises a board of management. Having served on a board of management myself in a voluntary capacity, I would have found it very unwelcome in my own situation. It has been an immensely challen…

I thank the Minister of State for taking the matter. I know he is not the line Minister for the Department but I want to draw his attention to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, catchments report issued this week on the assessment of catchments and the reductions in nitrogen concentrations to achieve water quality objectives. The short synopsis of the document is that we have a problem with nitrogen. We have a problem in particular in the south and the east of the country and our indicators are moving in the…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome that response. It is comprehensive and, in fact, I am going to print it out from the Dáil record, keep it in my office and hold the Minister of State to account on it. Of the things mentioned by the Minister of State, the river basin management plan is pivotal. He is correct that different areas are undergoing different pressures and some of the mapping that is done as part of the report is very useful on that. The other point the Minister of State makes that is very importa…

I echo the comments of my constituency colleague, Deputy Shanahan, in terms of the approach he outlined to a task force for the area. There is no doubt, notwithstanding the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, and the technological university for the south east Ireland, TUSE, that the south east is lagging behind other parts of the country by any economic indicator, more or less. I raise the issue of the employment law review that was promised for March of this year, to be jointly undertaken by the Depart…

I understand that Question No. 56 is grouped with Questions Nos. 68 and 74. I do not, however, see any of the named Deputies here to ask the question, in which case I will move on to Question No. 57 in the name of Deputy Conway-Walsh.

I thank the Minister. I can see that Deputy Murnane O'Connor has stepped out of the Chamber for a minute. I am going to skip all the way to Question No. 66.

Question No. 64 is in the name of Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor. I put her on forewarning that she may have an opportunity to move Question No. 65 also, along with its grouped questions.

I am not inclined to pre-empt the entire debate on every amendment before any debate on them. I am sure the Minister is waiting to hear the contributions.

If the Minister wishes to respond, he may do so.

I will have to make myself more evident to Deputy O'Connor in future. I praise the success of the vaccine roll-out. The figure of 50% by the end of the week is very exciting. There were people who said that the Irish system was not going to be able to roll it out in this time. It is right to praise everybody working within that system, including Department officials, HSE staff, GPs, doctors and vaccination centre staff. That is an exciting number. A total of 300,000 vaccines going into people's arms last week is fa…