I endorse what the Minister of State said. I was listening in my office to Senator Cummins. Unfortunately, the only way we are going to deal with the housing crisis is with a public–private partnership. If we want to build units at scale, we require the assistance of the private sector. If equity is to be front-loaded into developments, tying it up for decades, it is only reasonable that there would be an expectation of an equity return. I agree with the Minister of State. Even the much-spoken about Vienna model, w…

I welcome the Minister to the House. Of course, nobody wants to put these measures through. Mandatory quarantining was seen as trendy because it had worked in other countries. People who called for mandatory quarantining probably did not appreciate the absolute consequences of it, but it works and has worked. The Minister outlined the figures including 59 people with Covid-19 variants, which had they circulated within our community would have meant many more thousands of cases and, sadly, fatalities. It was a big p…

I welcome the Minister back to the House. I concur with the credit that has appropriately been given to the people working in the vaccination centres around the country. They are the human beings who are injecting people's arms and making them safe. I commend Mr. Damien McCallion, the HSE's lead for the vaccination roll-out, who has done a phenomenal job. He is out front for good news and bad news. It is critical that people are out front for bad news, and that is not always the case. It is often left to the politi…

Can the Minister give a quick update on the supply? What is the latest position?

I was listening to my colleague, Senator Higgins. The very same thought struck me that when one signs a contract, in my view, the terms should be cast in stone. Irrespective of whether the situation goes one way or the other, it would not be appropriate to have a facility to break a contract within the legislation. However, it is important that there is full transparency. All information should be available to all parties and it should also be in the public domain. When it comes to affordable housing bodies, they a…

Covid-19 has affected the entire world. The World Health Organization has done good work in terms of pulling together all of the strands of the pandemic. However, one particular country, Taiwan, does not appear to have much, if any, access to the World Health Organization. Taiwan has proven to be enormously successful in terms of its response to Covid-19. I call on the World Health Organization to give the Taiwanese Government representation at the World Health Assembly and to work out a structure to bring Taiwan i…

I have listened carefully to the debates both yesterday and today, particularly on the matter of the time limit. To a large extent, I agree with what was said but, unfortunately, we are still in a very precarious situation. While people are uncomfortable with the date in November, it exists for a reason. I was disappointed to hear Senator Mullen stating he did not get a written reply from the Minister on the position on masses. I was actually in the Chamber when the discussion took place and I heard the Minister ma…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to the House. I am sure he is aware of the serious blow inflicted by Aer Lingus on Shannon Airport last week with the announcement it was going to close its base there permanently. Like others, I fully understand Aer Lingus is in a perilous situation financially, having lost €360 million last year and €100 million to date this year. However, this undermining of its commitment to Shannon is a further deterioration in the status of Shannon Airport. I would point to the …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I welcome the fact there will be a significant announcement on aviation in the coming days. The survival of Aer Lingus is critical to Ireland and to the mid-west, in particular, but any bailout it gets must be a return journey. If it gets €150 million, which I understand it is seeking, we need three commitments from it. First, it must maintain the Heathrow slots in and out of Shannon. Second, it must commit in the long term to strategic routes, transatlantic and in and o…

Like Senator Clifford-Lee, I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to the House and commend him on the very difficult job he is doing and the manner in which he is doing it. Time will tell. It has been challenging and difficult, and nobody has got everything right, but, by and large, everything that could be done has been done. In the fullness of time, we will have a review of all of the measures. There will be a set of learnings and that set of learnings will influence how we do things in future pandemics. I want…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to the House. Having been in the House for five years when he was Leader of the Opposition, I know how constructive and engaging he is. I also know how committed he is to reform. I have no doubt that he will want to deliver in the housing brief. Over recent months, he has put his mark on the Department. I am optimistic about the future. The only way to resolve the housing crisis is to get houses built. It is a very simple equation of supply and demand. We will not rea…

I am sure Members will agree with me when I express my solidarity with our healthcare professionals, who dealt with Covid-19 for the past 14 to 15 months and the stresses, strains, difficulties and challenges associated with that and who then faced the most unprecedented cyberattack in the history of the State, affecting 85,000 computers. I commend our healthcare professionals and their supervisors and managers on their unstinting commitment to ensuring that the impact on patients will be kept to a minimum. It is i…

I would also like to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy English, to the House. I always enjoy his contributions because he is always so well prepared and can articulate what is being done in a clear, simple way in which people can understand. Communication is important in these areas because it can be quite technical. I, too, would like to welcome that we are moving further down the line of easing restrictions. It is a great day when we see so many people back to work with non-essential retail opening. I wish th…

It is not just the young people who will be having the party. I commend Senator Seery Kearney on tabling this important motion. As has been said, the contribution of young people, the effect on them of the Covid-19 pandemic and their resilience have all been remarkable. One must consider the experiences of young people, including the leaving certificate classes of last year and this year and the college freshers who have not yet set foot in their universities. Hopefully that will change in September. Their contribu…

I will conclude on this point. I acknowledge the work the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, has done in broadening the suite of supports available to young people going into third level education. With that, I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his indulgence.

I want to raise the very important issue of the appointment of eye care liaison officers, ECLOs, to the hospital groups throughout the country. When somebody is diagnosed for the first time with sight loss, the consultant will have a one-stop-shop person to whom to refer the individual. This is a person who will advise them on the various step-down services, peer counselling and supports, from the National Council for the Blind and guide dogs to peer counselling. That officer will also assist with follow-up medical…

I sincerely thank the Minister of State for his reply and note the good work that has been done by various ophthalmologists and teams around the country. This is specific. It is about having eye care liaison officers appointed who can advise on the step-down services and how people can emotionally come to terms with the fact that they have been diagnosed with sight loss. It is an extraordinarily traumatic experience for people who have never experienced sight loss before. The cost of rolling out these seven eye car…

I second the motion as clearly laid out by my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney. For too long carers were completely undervalued in this society. I believe it is changing. I believe the mindset regarding carers and the great role they play in our society is changing. This was very much formalised in the clear, precise and concise commitments made in the programme for Government last year. We are approaching the first anniversary of the formation of this Government. This gives us an opportunity to reflect on what has…

I also welcome the Minister to the House and commend her on her work because it is certainly not easy. She is dealing with unions and officials and is trying to do the right thing. Sometimes people do not agree with you when you are trying to do the right thing but you just have to stick to your guns and hope it works out on the day. It is a big challenge. This group of leaving certificate students have been much more impacted by Covid than last year's group. There is no doubt that last year's students were impacte…

Of course. I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and commend him on the job he is doing as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the job he did during the pandemic as Taoiseach and continues to do as Tánaiste. As has been said, it is post Covid that the real challenge will fall upon him in terms of economic recovery. I welcome the fact we will have a plan published in the not-too-distant future. The Tánaiste will remember back in October 2011 when he stood with me at the Cliffs of Moher. Back then, the Cl…