It is diabolical.

RTÉ acts as the Taoiseach's spokesperson. It is driving fear into the people. It should be turned off. It is shambolic.

Of course it can.

It is the spokesperson for the Government.

It is farcical.

The Taoiseach is pandering.

The Taoiseach is a disgrace.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, but I am disgusted that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is not here. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State. We bailed out the banks and my children and grandchildren and everyone else's will still be paying them back, yet they have given two fingers to more than 80,000 people and families who had got a break, first for three months and then six. Let us just take one industry - music and entertainment - that provided so much solace and does so much for our men…

That reply was not the Minister of State's. It was useless, toothless and fruitless. There has been inertia in this and the previous Governments when it comes to dealing with the banks. We have no legislation, yet other European countries have introduced legislation to compel banks to deal with people during Covid. The reply is cold comfort to people in the music industry, taxi drivers, small businesses and everyone else. We are all in this big boat together, but the Government has cut adrift the 50,000 small busin…

They might.

I think Deputy Crowe was to replace Deputy Ó Murchú.

I wish the Minister of State well in her new portfolio. As others have said, the Minister in the last Government, Deputy Creed, ignored everything to do with agriculture and rural Ireland. He would not deal with the beef barons and other issues. This legislation is an effort but it is feeble and a little inept. We have tabled many amendments to try to strengthen the Bill, and I thank Brian in our office for putting them together. I hope the Minister of State will not reject amendments that are well meant, as she di…

I will do my best to keep my comments relevant to the amendments but I must address some of the comments that have been made. I am sure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle deals with many representations relating to planning permission, where people make a major investment to home themselves so they do not need a house from the State. They go through the planning and An Bord Pleanála process, as well as environment impact statements or flood plain issues. Like Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, I remember as a young boy going to nation…

Gabh mo leithscéal. Máire Ní Bhroin. I do not know where she lives or whatever, but there are some great and wise people out there, a lot wiser than me or Deputy Boyd Barrett. They used to live in botháns in the hills without electricity and water but things have evolved, but they have evolved too far. I want the appeals system tied down. I want a finite time and date. Tá an Teachta Naughten ag gáire but it is a fact. They were wise people and they knew the land. The Deputy then went to Iraq but I thought there was…

When I saw the Bill and researched it, I too stated it was feeble and inept. We are now discussing it and we have fallen at the first hurdle. A total of 102 amendments were tabled in the Seanad but the Minister of State rejected them all. The Government is not serious about this Bill. There is no timeline provided in the Bill and it will be unworkable without one. Deputy Boyd Barrett and I raised the fact in the House yesterday and at the Business Committee last week that we are not being given enough time to debat…

I will be as brief as I can, but I cannot believe that the Minister would come out with that statement. The tail is truly wagging the dog. The Green Party is practically lifting the dog of Fianna Fáil, which is a pup now. Fianna Fáil was a party that I was proud to be a member of, but it is nearly facing extinction. The way it is going, it will be extinct. A preservation order will be placed on what is left of it. This is outrageous. There is a backlog now. Could the Minister not deal with it before setting out in …

That is fake news.

It is fake news.

In the Department.

There are laggards in there.