That is pretty simple and straightforward.

Indeed. The Taoiseach should pay them.

Last week, we had the very welcome news of an agreement on the Irish protocol. While we still need to see the detail and how it will be implemented in practice, such progress is important for everyone on the island. From speaking to people in Brussels this morning, it appears that there has been movement over the past 24 hours, at least in principle, on the level playing field and governance, providing some level of optimism that a deal might still be possible. However, given the shortness of time, if there is not …

I note the Government decision to postpone the scheduled Dáil vote on the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, CETA, between Canada and the EU. Shoehorning the vote into this week's Dáil schedule was wrong, as was any attempt to use Brexit to justify rushing a motion through. After the Seanad rejected CETA in October 2016, the previous Government consistently set its face against a robust debate on this controversial deal. We had hoped that the Taoiseach would take a different tack and that a thorough analysis w…

I agree with the points made about the Debenhams workers and the need for workers who are owed redundancy payments to be given the status of preferential creditors in the event of a liquidation. It needs to get done. Kicking this can down the road with a promise of a review of company law, which seems interminable is certainly not the answer for workers who are now facing into Christmas in the most difficult of circumstances. I was fascinated by the Taoiseach's response about the removal of the motion on CETA from …

I commend the important work of the task force led by Professor Brian MacCraith. It is an arduous task and the entire nation is dependent on a positive outcome from it. The Taoiseach may be aware from representations to his office that there is a widespread concern that the Government decided not to recognise people with disabilities in the priority list of groups for vaccination published last week. This omission has caused widespread concern and, indeed, considerable hurt. People with disabilities repeatedly tell…

The Taoiseach should answer the question.

I am sorry I hurt the Taoiseach sensitivities. I ask him to answer the question on people with disabilities.

Then fix it.

Yesterday I raised with the Taoiseach the refusal of his Government to pay student nurses and midwives who have been working on the front line during this awful pandemic. I told the Taoiseach of the real anger and frustration felt by these students over the outrageous claim that they do not get paid because they do not do real work. I conveyed to the Taoiseach, in their own words, the very real work that student nurses and midwives do. The testimonies I read yesterday show that not only do student nurses and midwiv…

Here are the truths. The truth is that student nurses and midwives are working hard. The truth is that our system and the services patients rely on would grind to a halt, in some cases, without their effort. The truth is the Taoiseach has chosen to disregard and disrespect the fact that these students work extremely hard. The only abuse at play here is the abuse of not paying these student nurses and midwives for their honest effort and work. The Taoiseach says he is not refusing to pay them. The only logical concl…

-----but for the great and the good, for the hoi polloi, there is no delay. They get their money. They get their increases. The sheer unfairness-----

-----of that is manifest to one and all.

There are currently more than 200 children waiting on scoliosis procedures. That is up 25% in two years, and almost half of these children are waiting for more than six months. This makes a mockery of the promise made by Deputy Harris, as Minister for Health, some three years ago, that no patient would wait more than four months. Serious delays in scoliosis surgery have been a huge problem long before the pandemic. As children wait for their surgery, they are not able to live a full life. Some live in pain from the…

My colleague, Deputy Kerrane, asked the Taoiseach yesterday if it was the Government's intention to ratify the International Labour Organization, ILO, Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work. As he did not have an opportunity to respond as time ran out, I would be grateful if he could clarify the Government position today. Covid-19 has created new challenges for the workforce and exacerbated existing inequities. Remote working has created significant advantages. However, there is a flip s…

I will be. The Taoiseach did not clarify what that Ernst & Young study cost, nor did he clarify the wider point on the total amount of money expended by his Department on consultancy firms advising on Covid-19 related matters. I for one would like to hear clear, concise answers to those questions.

For future reference, I understand and accept that these sessions are discursive and that any of us can go off on any sort of reverie, but where the Taoiseach is asked on the Questions Paper a very clear-cut question on costs associated with his Department - in this instance, costs of consultancy in respect of Covid-related matters - I, for one, expect that when he answers on the floor of the Dáil, he should either state there was no money expended or state the amount spent, regardless of whatever else he says. Tha…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. At 8 o’clock this morning Joanna Sloan, a young nurse in Belfast, was the first person in Ireland to receive a vaccine for Covid-19. A little earlier a 90-year-old Fermanagh woman, Margaret Keenan, was the first person in Britain to receive the jab. We now await the vaccine roll-out plan for this part of the island. There is at last light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, this marks a turning of the tide in our fight against this virus and the beginning of the end. Last…

Nobody is suggesting that we should drift backwards; far from it. We are absolutely insisting that students nurses and midwives must be acknowledged and paid for the critical tasks they carry out. We are insisting in this year and in these times above all other times, as we face into a pandemic, that we recognise and reward the real work of student nurses and midwives. Those students are among those who have kept our under-resourced and understaffed hospital system afloat. Those are the facts. It is ironic of the T…

The Deputy is very honest.