I remind the Minister of State and the House that Article 44 of Bunreacht na hÉireann asserts the freedom to worship publicly. However, under the restrictions imposed by the Government, public worship is now a penal matter. We are going back to the time of the Penal Laws and the pre-Famine period. I salute the Franciscans in Clonmel, including Fr. Michael Toomey, Fr. Brendan Crowley and my own parish priest, Fr. Garrett Desmond, who have made Trojan and Herculean efforts to get mass services online, with the help o…

I apologise for missing some of the debate. I was at a meeting of the Business Committee. I was in favour of a sunset clause and I am glad we had one because it gives us a chance to debate the issue, albeit with severely limited time. At the Business Committee I objected strenuously to this debate being rushed today. Since its introduction in March, the Government has known that 9 November is the date. I am sick and tired of this Government. There is no pre-legislative scrutiny on most issues, and it is all because…

I appreciate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle allowing me to speak. Deputy McNamara and I have come from a meeting of the Business Committee, which is why we were late getting to the Chamber for the debate on the preceding motion. The Business Committee is redundant now. By the time I got out of the Chamber the other evening, the meeting of the committee was well under way. It concluded with a vote at approximately 10.40 p.m. to change the Order of Business for today. Like Deputy McNamara, I think it is shocking that we h…

On a point of order, it is awful. Only a handful of us are here. It is totally disgraceful.

I do not blame the ushers. They do not have it. There were two or three copies. I cannot get a copy and I have been here since the Minister started speaking.

I appreciate that, but it is shocking. Only a handful of us are present. If there were a hundred here, then it might be something.

Today we are starting a second lockdown and the people out there are restricted in very many ways. I appeal to the Government to implement logical, reasonable and sound restrictions. The coursing people of Ireland come from the countryside and they love coursing. They mind their animals and nurture the hares. They are in the middle of coursing but everything stopped yesterday evening. Coursing takes place in controlled areas in the countryside. It involves men, women and children out in the fresh air. They are not …

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, groups such as ours and other Independent groups want speaking time. This is continually happening. It has been happening all day today. It happens all the time that Government Members are not turning up for their speaking slots. If we were not here now, our speaking slot would be lost.

Where are they?

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I say first to Deputy O’Donnell that I have the height of respect for him. He was here and he did speak for his 11 minutes but there are many other Deputies who are not turning up. We cannot possibly follow through like this when one is part of a smaller group. This is not going to work. There are too many glitches and bad marks in this. The testing is a fiasco. I have emails every other day from people who want a test, who cannot get a test and who had a test and are waiting two weeks. One…

No, but it is a tyranny.

I withdraw the name Adolf Hitler but we are being led into a cul-de-sac here-----

It should not be there.

I also want the record to be corrected on the assertion that the Business Committee agreed to this. It did not.

The Sinn Féin amendment has been dealt with but I am opposed to the substance of the motion and I wanted to call a vote on it.

I again express my sincere horror that the Government and the Minister have set their faces against dealing with this issue in any shape, make or form. They have tried to convince themselves, because they need to convince themselves, that they are doing something for the good of the survivors. That would take some convincing, and if they can convince themselves of that, they can convince themselves of anything. We have all received thousands of impassioned pleas from victims and survivors all over the country, and …

I appreciate being allowed to speak a second time. I last spoke before the Minister had replied. He has shown steadfast unwillingness and belligerence with regard to all of the amendments. It is sad to see it suggested that an issue that has gone on for so long, nearly three quarters of a century in places, should go on for a full century and that access to these survivors' records should be denied to them, their families, their loved ones and campaigners for justice. I have been in the Dáil for nearly 14 years and…

I am speaking to the amendment. I am speaking to the fact that the Minister has rejected each and every amendment. With the Acting Chairman's permission, I am making the point, which I will not labour, that I am truly saddened to think that a Green Party Minister would act in this way. I do not see many of his colleagues around him or behind him. There are not many who have come in to speak in support of him or to provide him with moral support because they know this is wrong no matter what way one looks at it. The…

I am glad to speak on this legislation. I wish the Minister well in his office. I worked with him long ago when I was in the same esteemed outfit as he is, but I have taken a different path since then, thankfully, and I thank the electorate for supporting me. I also worked with the Minister, when he was a Deputy, on the housing committee in the previous Dáil, and he was energetic, enthusiastic and had some great ideas. I used to be a member of the Irish Council for Social Housing, ICSH, and I still have a connectio…

I did not see him. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for telling me. The protections in this Bill must be extended until next summer along with the legislation granting the powers in respect of the lockdown restrictions. I felt that was too long and that next February would be enough. Why do we have two tiers in this regard, however? Why are we only protecting families in rented properties who are at risk of eviction when level 5 restrictions are in force, and only for ten days thereafter? Many people will be hopin…