The Taoiseach has not.

The Taoiseach is denying it.

Show me the science and statistics-----

Deputies Michael Collins and Danny Healy-Rae have done much work on this matter. They have brought thousands of people to Belfast to have operations performed in order to stop them from going blind or to replace hips. I have had a number of people from Tipperary accommodated and they got successful treatment. With no disrespect to the Minister of State, it is a scandal that neither the Minister for Foreign Affairs nor the Minister for Health is here to answer this. This has been kicked around on the head of a pin f…

It is a matter for the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020 should have been used to address it but that has not happened.

I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, is here but the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, should be here to answer this. He runs like a scalded cat every time we have a question or a motion down to talk to him. It is a total disrespect to the Rural Independent group. A scalded cat would not go through the skylight as fast as he has gone and he is like snow off a ditch on other occasions. The answer given by the Minister of State is condescending to older people. My colleagues here bus people to the North.…

I will not delay either. I support Deputy Naughten and the others who tabled this necessary and quite deliberate amendment. It is alarming, at this time of severe crisis, pain and suffering for all small businesses across the country and in Northern Ireland, as Deputy Ó Cuív said earlier, that we are debating these issues at the last minute, in the second last month of the year, when we should have debated them over the past two years. I too am concerned about the tourism industry. I am concerned about the products…

I wish the Minister of State well and he is new in the job but he has been around the House for a long time and has been Chairman of prestigious committees. He must understand that he gave the House information in good faith, which is how we took it, that he would do one thing and then decided he was not happy and called a vote. I will not say "misleading information" either, but the Minister of State led the House to believe one thing and then reneged on it after a long discussion and many points being made about …

I am very sad to see what is happening. Speaking on behalf of the Rural Independent Group, this is very bad politics. The Ceann Comhairle, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and everybody else who takes the Chair, including myself, knows that the separation of powers is sacrosanct. We are being warned that we cannot stray into certain areas. I understand that. However, by giving ten minutes for statements and only five for questions, it is giving more latitude for people to stray into areas they should not stray into. I do …

As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae said last week on behalf of the Rural Independent Group, we are not in favour of this. We have no interest in an impeachment process and we made that quite clear. There are no grounds for impeachment. However, we want the Minister for Justice to come to the House. Her predecessor should also come before the House because he slipped her the note. This is horse trading at its worst. I asked the Taoiseach at the leaders' meeting if he was aware that the name was coming before the Cabinet an…

Ask Shane Ross.

Before the election.

Shane Ross-----

The heavy gang are back.

This is very sad. Cúpla bliain ó shin, in 2017, the Taoiseach was on the Opposition side remonstrating about the appointment of an excellent Attorney General, Máire Whelan. He was not very kind in the words he said or the comparisons he made. The real problem here is not, as I have said, anything to do with impeachment, it is the appointment process. The former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, blocked it for eight months. That is common knowledge. This is more about the Taoiseach's weakened po…

Come on.

The Taoiseach is on shaky ground.

Why has the Irish step dancing community been denied the right to run indoor solo classes, following a pod system and adhering to strict guidelines, as other comparable activities and sports have done? I have received 1,208 letters from dance teachers and students. Some of them are very sad. They need to be able to do this activity and we have to protect their right to dance.

I do not know whether the Minister of State is aware that in December 2015, Ireland ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and it was important that we did. Sports are allowed to go ahead in groups and people can practise. Teachers and dancers recognise that the restrictions are necessary to curb the spread of Covid but this is totally unfair. I have received 1,208 letters but one of them, from a six-year-old girl, is very striking. She wrote that she misses and love…

The Minister of State is dancing all over the UNESCO convention and he is wrong. A gymnastics school can operate under levels 3 and 4 but we cannot, so there is a discrepancy. I urge the Minister of State to consider the physical, emotional, mental and pedological benefits that dance can bring to young people, and to allow the CLRG and other dance organisations to continue sharing their knowledge and expertise by advocating and permitting the continuation of Irish dance classes indoors and in socially distanced pod…