I will allow that. I will call on Deputy McNamara first.

Do any Deputies wish to ask another question?

Does the Minister of State wish to respond to those questions?

Deputy Brady had three minutes to ask his questions even though only two and a half minutes are allocated to each group. If there is time at the end, I will let him back in.

The Minister of State is on his feet and the Deputy must allow him to finish. The Deputy can come back in later.

The Minister of State will have an opportunity to wrap up at the end.

The Minister of State has five minutes to wrap up the debate.

The next slot is the Regional Group. Deputies Berry and Shanahan have 20 minutes.

I too am happy to speak on the Children (Amendment) Bill. We are almost fiche bliain ag fanacht ar an mBille seo. It is important for us to have a review of legislation and we discussed the point on reviews of legislation here some weeks ago when Deputy Pringle put some amendments down, I believe, to the Children (Amendment) Bill. Clearly, there were inadequacies, weaknesses and flaws, not by design or deliberate action, but this can happen with legislation. The best laid plans of God and man can go wrong, as we kn…

Will the Minister provide a quantifiable monetary value of the huge economic and social costs this pandemic, the Government's attitude and lockdown have had for the people of Ireland?

I agreed that those assistance packages were put in place. I welcomed them. I disagree with the Minister that it is the fault of the pandemic, however. It is the Government's reaction to the pandemic and the way in which it has dealt with it. I want to outline the destructive impacts and unprecedented levels of unemployment, which the Minister has mentioned. I mention, for instance, the collapse of the small business sector. The Minister has to be real here. Where are we going to go the longer this lockdown goes on…

I said that I acknowledge the supports. I am referring to the strategy. The Minister blamed the pandemic but it is the Government's reaction to it and the prolonged lockdown. The Government had no roadmap last night either. Entire swathes of our community and society were never even mentioned in the press conference last night or since. Look at the whole arts industry and what is involved there. The impact both economically and socially on our people is devastating and will be unquantifiable for decades to come. Th…

I want to talk about the Connecting Ireland document, which aims to connect Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway and to provide an alternative to the M20 and M25 motorways, which the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, believes will cost a fortune and is too expensive. The Government's vision for Ireland 2040 is to achieve connectivity and balanced regional development. Our regional cities are important. We are told Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities are instrumental to this new vision. The cities need to be connected to…

I do not have any issue with those towns the Tánaiste mentioned in counties Cork and Limerick; they need bypasses. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, however, is in favour of smaller ring roads or smaller bypasses, not a huge motorway. The Tánaiste must look at the funding, which is staggering. It is €3.8 billion versus €10.3 billion. That is €3.8 billion to go from Limerick to Cahir and on to Waterford with connectivity back to Cork or Dublin against €10.3 billion to do the Cork-Limerick, and indeed, Cork-Waterford roads.…

Clonmel has been overlooked. The regional strand of funding under the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, has been announced by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Some €500 million went to Cork and Limerick but Clonmel did not get pingin amháin. We had a lot of work done on this. The strands involved were phase 2 of the Kickham Barracks regeneration, the Clonmel Flights of Discovery tourism proposal, which includes the Bulmers lane project and Suir Island and…

Have you an explanation?

I am delighted to be able to speak on this Bill. I welcome the extension of the time. It is important during these difficulties with Covid to be fair to people as much as we can. It is nothing more than what we should be doing. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I had a brief word with him about the urban regeneration fund which Clonmel was unsuccessful in applying for. He has agreed to look at it and to meet with officials from Tipperary County Council. I thank him for his engagement and I wish him well in his …

I support this important legislation from the Regional Group, particularly Deputy Naughten, which is very badly needed. We need insurance reform. I detest fraud and those who commit fraud but I am not the judge and jury. I cannot prove these things and it is often hard to prove fraud. The advertisements run by insurance companies implied people were putting their hands in our pockets and they were very effective. They made people think. This is not by any manner or means a panacea for fixing the insurance industry.…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing us raise this matter in the Topical Issue debate. The right to worship is an issue of tremendous sensitivity and importance to tens of thousands of people. We have mixed messages coming from the Cabinet. The Garda press office cannot say which or whether. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, informed the House that no priest would be summoned or fined. The opposite has happened. I hope the Government will take a leaf from Scotland's book. This weeks, the Supreme…

I am shocked and disappointed with the reply that the churches will not be open for Easter. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, said in the House that penal provisions were not affecting the priests. Fr. Hughes proved otherwise. Is it that we are flouting European law and the judge in Scotland was wrong? He accepted the case and said that European rights in Scotland were being denied. We can do what we like in Europe. Shame, shame, shame on the Government. It is so sad that this could happen in such a way. That was such…