What is the delay?

My first question was whether the Minister would revamp, revitalise and re-energise, NPHET. They have all been at the coalface and working very hard, but the NHS has done it significantly. After seven months, surely there are things can be done differently and experts that can be brought in there.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might tell me if Deputy Michael Healy-Rae arrives in the Chamber, as we will share the remaining time otherwise. The PUP must be reinstated. We came through a great deal in the first stage. People have put their shoulders to the wheel, ní neart go cur le chéile, and worked hard but with the change in Government and the consequent hand over, the ball was dropped. Now we are back in level 3, which could have been level 5 as we saw on Sunday night. Some say it may as well have been level 5, b…

I wish to return to the sad and scandalous situation of there being no mental health or long-stay beds in Tipperary. In Crisis House, Clonmel, we cannot progress the tender. Some 724 patients presented at South Tipperary General Hospital last year with mental health issues. That is 14 per week. Only 11 per month, or 140, were transferred to the psychiatric unit in St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny. The other more than 600 were left to their own devices. They had to go home with scarcely any community services…

Nothing in Tipperary.

It is not there.

I will be sharing time with Deputies Michael Collins and Danny Healy-Rae. The Tánaiste has been told repeatedly by speakers in this debate that there are only 90 days left before the end of the transition period. That is not a long time where international and European relations and negotiations are concerned. I want to salute the work of the late Fr. Alec Reid and Dr. Martin Mansergh, two Tipperary men, and the work that many people did, including former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in the establishment of the Good Fri…

I too ask the Taoiseach for a briefing of party leaders. There is great frustration and angst as people all over the country do not know what is going on. We need the PUP payment restored for all of these businesses that are going to be closed down. In that context, if the Ceann Comhairle will allow me, I made comments earlier about Dr. Holohan and I asked where he had been for the past number of months. I understand totally where he has been, looking after his sick wife, and I profoundly apologise if I caused any …

When?

On a point of clarification about what the Taoiseach said, we have not had a leaders' briefing in three weeks. We have had only one since he became Taoiseach. I missed last week's meeting but we always make our dissent known at the meeting. Members from my group do not come in and object to something to which we agreed. We make it known that we are not happy with the progress.

Farmers and self-employed people are being discriminated against under the fair deal scheme for nursing home care. This issue has been bandied around for several years. The former Minister of State, Jim Daly, promised that the matter had gone to the Cabinet two or three years ago. It is unacceptable that the assets of farmers and self-employed people, of whom there are many, are being stripped when one of the family members, the father or mother, is the owner of the business and is sick and in need of proper health…

I am glad the Minister for Transport is here. This week Bus Éireann announced that it is to scrap a number of its Expressway routes, significantly reducing connectivity between our major cities and the regions. The removal of the X8 service between Dublin and Cork, for example, will have a major impact on students and commuters travelling from Tipperary to either Cork or Dublin and patients travelling for hospital appointments if they can ever get one these days. Cork and Shannon Airports are facing a serious crisi…

That is not very helpful. The school transport system is a mess. The Minister is talking about €750 million this year, €450 million more than last year. He would be better off subsidising parents to drive their kids to school and forget his green ideals. We have buses passing by and cars travelling in front of them and behind them and the whole thing is organised chaos. The Minister said the numbers spiked in September but the Government knew, since the schools closed last March, that this problem was coming down t…

The Government has lost €100 million.

It has not. It has managed it badly.

The Minister has left children behind.

The Minister is avoiding the most important part.

The Minister never referred to the children who were left behind.

On a point of information, it is amazing to see Deputy Fitzpatrick complaining but he votes with the Government on every vote no matter what it is on. The Regional Independent Deputies are voting with the Government. They want to play a double act then of being in opposition. The post office network is under the remit of either the Minister or his ministerial colleague, Deputy Catherine Martin. It is about to collapse if there is no State intervention. Covid is having a huge impact because people are being encourag…

They will be gone.