In discussing this Bill, I want to talk about our built heritage. I approached the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, a short time ago to raise an issue I have written to him about before, namely, Knocklofty House Hotel, the wonderful, majestic and historic building on the pleasant banks of the River Suir in County Tipperary. The Ceann Comhairle may be surprised, given that a bust of Queen Victoria and a statue of William of Orange are to be found there, that I want to keep the building safe. I do so for the ve…

The Ceann Comhairle might let me know if Deputy Danny Healy-Rae arrives in the Chamber. If he does, I will share time with him. I am pleased to speak in the debate on this Bill. Much of it draws on the cases that have turned up in the Supreme Court. It is very important that legislation that is made and passed in the Oireachtas applies equally to all citizens and will withstand the test of time. Sections 4 to 7, inclusive, amend provisions relating to mandatory sentences for second and subsequent firearms and misus…

I too feel compelled to be very critical of the system of direct provision. It has been an abject failure. I have visited the centre in Carrick-on-Suir a number of times over the years and have seen the way families are incarcerated there. These are, in the main, traumatised people who have come from very harrowing and desperate situations. I visited refugee camps outside Lebanon some years ago and saw the children and the old women. There was nobody else there. They are traumatised and are waiting there. Then they…

I return to the issue of a bypass for Tipperary town. Two sets of consultants are looking at the road from Limerick to Waterford. Tipperary town must be bypassed and we had plans before to do that. Why has a 6 km wide passage of land now been sterilised from Limerick to Tipperary town, and including towns such as Bansha, Cahir, Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir, Piltown and on to Waterford? People want to build houses in those areas and they cannot apply for planning because of that 6 km area. These studies were done before…

I ask the Ceann Comhairle to ask the Minister to reply to me in writing. I have never got a reply in writing and I have raised the matter with the Minister and with the Government Chief Whip, Deputy Jack Chambers. It is an insult to the people who elect me in Tipperary. Why are the HSE and the Department of Health not collating figures of people who have a delayed diagnosis of cancer and a missed diagnosis? There are 38,000 people waiting for colonoscopies alone and many other diagnoses have been delayed. What are …

It is. It was being used as a Covid centre and then it was unceremoniously closed down, so it is very much so.

Why will the Minister not put the answer in writing and refute it?

I am serious. I have never got an answer from the Minister.

I asked questions for answers. I do not get answers from the Minister.

I asked questions. I did not say things. I asked questions.

I am on the Business Committee. I understand quite clearly that we can choose to use our time for questions and written answers. That is part of the protocol. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is telling lies to the House as he did about the churches some months ago. We can ask questions and ask for written replies if there is not time. Is that right or wrong?

I too acknowledge the extension of these schemes until the end of June. I would like to see them extended but at least it is tús maith leath na hoibre. I thank the local authority officials and, indeed, the social welfare officials and the Minister's officials who have worked on these schemes for businesses which, through no fault of their own, found themselves in the situation of being forced to close by Government regulations. I acknowledge that but the schemes are very rigid. At this stage, we should be able to …

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak to this motion on the European Defence Agency. The Government is good at bringing these motions forward and having them passed in the House. Like other Deputies, I have the utmost respect for our Army and navy. We need to support, respect and pay their members. We are doing none of that other than paying lip service to it. We have seen during the Covid pandemic how important the Army has been to us in helping with quarantine arrangements and God knows what else. The Ar…

Hear, hear.

I offer my sincere thanks to Deputy Pringle for his hard work in bringing forward this motion. It is very timely because this is a three-card trick as far as I am concerned. I am from the Golden Vale and proud of it. I will declare an interest. I happen to own land with lots of heather on it, which was reclaimed by my forefathers. They earned their living from it and fought for freedom in respect of it. Now, the right to farm that land is being taken from people. We do not know what is going on here. One would want…

I was contacted by a very good, decent and honest publican in Tipperary this morning who has business interruption insurance. His insurance broker told him that because his premises was not closed due to an outbreak in it that the insurance company would not cover it. This is outrageous. There is a pandemic. The Government gave an order to close all businesses and it closed. Insurance companies are now picking off businesses one-by-one. These are individual business people who are stressed and put to the pins of th…

It is not agreed. Through the Chair, I honestly believe that we need to have a major rethink of this legislation because it will have profound impacts on all aspects of our lives, especially in rural Ireland, and on jobs all over our country. The very fabric of the essence of the survival of the farming sector and many rural economies is going to be an undermined with this legislation. It is rushed and ill-conceived, and it looks grand and dandy and is nice to pander to the public and to our friends in Europe and e…

We will have to import more of everything.

There are hundreds of advisers.

Can I make a point of order?