I am sharing time with Deputy O'Donoghue. As colleagues have outlined, pupils and parents are having a nightmare in regard to school transport. I spoke about this issue yesterday at the meeting of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response and I will do so again today. We have seen a lot of improvements carried out in schools throughout west Cork in the past couple of months. A lot of these were funded and carried out by the Minister's Department but major works were also made possible by teachers, other school sta…

This question was tabled before the roadmap to reopen schools was published during the week. Primary and secondary schools throughout the country will have to employ extra cleaning staff due to the imminent reopening of schools. Will the Minister outline the way this cleaning budget will be allocated to schools, especially primary schools? Is it a separate grant for schools or a raising of the capitation grant, which is required also?

I thank the Minister very much for that clarity. Like every other Deputy, I have been inundated with calls in recent weeks from schools - in Belgooly, Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Castletownbere, Kilcrohane, Schull and Ballydehob, to name but a few in west Cork - and not just with regard to this issue. In fairness, the Minister has provided clarity with regard to many of those schools, and I will ask more questions later this evening on the private school sector. I am aware of the difficulty schools face in gett…

I appreciate that the extra €4.3 million will be of great assistance to schools. I received phone calls as late as yesterday evening and some of our rural schools in west Cork are concerned that the roadmap for reopening seems to be aimed more at city schools rather than rural schools in relation to any of the entitlements. Will the Minister clarify this?

On the same issue, parents of children with disabilities are pleading for some services to reopen. In west Cork, parents were asked to seek out local hubs and many of them have found suitable buildings, including one in my own community in Schull. No matter how they try, however, they cannot get the doors open to take these young children. I have tried to speak to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, several times this week to explain this issue but it has not worked out. These p…

I want to speak to the amendment. The Bill is dressed up to appear as if it is only dealing with matters related to Covid-19. However, centuries of legislation will be abolished to appease vulture funds which evict Irish families. Chapter 3 relates to a very important decision in the Court of Appeal recently on the admissibility of hearsay, Promontoria v . Burns. The case took in all of the other relevant authorities and, in effect, gave the vultures and receivers a route to court and a more than credible defence i…

The Minister spoke about positive engagement. I thank her for the very positive engagement she has afforded me on behalf of schools in Cork South-West in the short time since she was appointed Minister. She is a credit to the difficult position she holds. I have discussed a good number of issues with her in the past week and tonight I have a different area to travel. My question concerns fee-charging schools such as Bandon Grammar School, which will not receive any assistance under the minor works grant scheme for …

I appreciate that because it is a serious concern for that school and must be for other fee-paying schools as well. These schools are struggling the same as ordinary schools and they need the capitation grant and the minor works grant at this time. It is essential for this school and others. I have been talking to schools in Castletownbere, Kilcrohane, Ballydehob, Belgooly, Baltimore, throughout west Cork and in different places, and parents and teachers are worried. The school in Castletownbere will not open unles…

The severe overcrowding in St. Brogan's College has been of great concern to the people of Bandon for quite some time. What will the situation be for children going into secondary school in Bandon in September? Will extra Portakabins be put in place? What is the situation in that regard? Parents were last year advised to send children to Cork rather than to send them to school in Bandon. This is still an issue. There are plans for new accommodation down the road. What is the status of those plans? Parents need answ…

I am delighted to get an opportunity today to speak on the stimulus package and the issues that still concern people. In fairness, there is no point in being altogether critical of the package. It contains measures that in time will begin a roadmap for people to try to get back to some normality and employment, which is of huge importance. I want to home in on the expenditure regarding hospitals and the whole issue of the Covid-19 situation. Clonakilty Community Hospital was struck heavily, unfortunately, with Covi…

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment to a Ministry I have no doubt she will thrive in. I am astonished, however, that the rural affairs brief has got thrown in under the Department of Social Protection. This move seriously demotes rural affairs and was a very poor sign from Fianna Fáil of its intentions for rural Ireland, once again demoting the Ministry for rural affairs. The PUP was introduced by the Government on 13 March 2020. I was asked to help with more than 100 applications, which we had to send i…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I would like to start by thanking the Minister and her Department for all of their effort and success in helping schools throughout west Cork to receive urgent funding recently. Dreeny National School in Skibbereen needed to carry out emergency works. Scoil Mhuire na nGrást in Belgooly required emergency works in conjunction with Irish Water. Rath National School was also awarded funding last week. All of the schools involved want to acknowledge that they have got…

I am sharing time with Deputies Mattie McGrath and O'Donoghue. I have a number of questions and, given that time is short, I might ask them all together. I begin with the issue of nursing homes and congregated settings. I note, thankfully, that in west Cork to date, and please God it will remain the case, there has been no Covid-19 case in any of the nursing homes. Nevertheless, there is no point skirting around the issue of the community hospital in Clonakilty, where, sadly, many people passed away. I am a member …

The previous Government promised and failed to deliver a new fair deal Bill. Farmers and business families are being penalised due to the current fair deal scheme. Will the Government address the shockingly unfair deal? When will it introduce legislation on a new fair deal?

This is my first opportunity to wish the Minister and the Minister of State the very best in their new roles. I look forward to working with both of them in this very difficult but important area. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue of amendments that will provide for the expansion of GP care without charge on a phased basis to children of primary school age and that will seek to increase limits for medical card assessment for people aged 70 or over. These are important issues. The medical ca…

I appreciate that. I was in the same position as a previous Deputy. We got our wires crossed.

That people over 70 will have a better chance of getting a medical card is very important but we must also look at other areas where those over 70 are suffering quite a bit. For example, people in west Cork are seeking cataract procedures and we have taken over 50 bus trips to Belfast because our older people are suffering. They cannot get a cataract procedure in Cork or Kerry. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I have taken more than 1,500 people to Belfast to take advantage of the cross-border healthcare directive. Altho…

I suppose the worst thing-----

Today we are discussing what effectively seems like a cut to the CAP budget. How is this seen as a good deal? Rural Ireland and farmers in particular have in the past number of years suffered severely because of very bad deals being done and we are now looking at a further cut in forthcoming budgets that will mainly affect Irish agriculture. I need to know how this can be seen as a good deal. The Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, might explain it. How will this affect the suckler or beef farmer who has strugg…

I wish to make some comments on the National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Bill 2020. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, exists in its present form to ensure that Ireland maintains its minimum stockholding requirements for oil and petroleum products. It is there to ensure our national security of energy supply in case of global disruptions. As stated by the website of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, and in the principal Act, the mai…