I will not take that long, but I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I have not had the opportunity since the Minister's reappointment to wish him the best of luck and success in his role. I know he will be extremely diligent and hardworking, and I always appreciate and respect that very much. The Minister knows that the hospitality sector, including our hoteliers and vintners, was desperately hoping that radical changes would be made in the VAT rate and it wo…

If the Acting Chairman is telling me to yield to somebody else, of course I will.

I am grateful for the time I got.

While protecting the individual who contacted me, I wish to speak further to the debate and this amendment with a message I received. It states: Minister Donohue assured the people that when the PUP was altered to a two tier system, that no one would be worse off after rerate than before the Pandemic. I however am. As you know, myself and [my husband] run a [public house]. Going back a few years, in 2016, this couple realised that an extra income was necessary in order to take pressure off their public house busine…

How much time have we?

And how many speakers in that time?

Have we four minutes each?

Deputy Mattie McGrath, our chairman, will stop me. I am sorry about all of that, a Cheann Comhairle. Since it has been done by another Deputy and as I always do, I wish to declare an interest in this sector. It was stated that perhaps certain Members should not partake in today's vote if they were involved in or had an interest in the matter. That means that, if there were an issue with agriculture in future, every Deputy who farmed or had land at home would not be able to participate in a vote and Deputies who wer…

I too support the coach operators from all around the country who have had to come to Dublin today, though many of them were not able to come. Many large, medium and smaller coach operators in the county I represent have their backs to the wall. They have been hit by insurance costs and they have yards full of buses. The unusual thing is that the bigger the company is the more affected it is, because those massive buses cost an awful lot of money. Every one of them is out on hire purchase or on loan and the operato…

First, I wish the Minister good luck with this new portfolio. She was a good Minister in the past so I know she will be a good Minister in the future. I, too, wish to speak about people from the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland, MEAI. I have been inundated with calls from people in the music and entertainment sector regarding the stimulus package. They have told me about their hardships as they struggle to pay for their weekly shopping, with their utility bills in arrears. There is the threat of losin…

Mr. Pádraig Harnett from Killarney posted on social media two hours ago, stating that a drive-in cinema is allowed but our hard-pressed musicians and comedians cannot do drive-in shows because the law does not give permission for anybody to be on a stage. He referred to "more of this lazy one rule fits all governing". The income of our musicians, comedians and all the crews has been wiped out, with no date set for a return to indoor events. Venues that looked to be proactive and book acts had to cancel them due to …

I will start where the previous Deputy finished, which is on the issue of the money for the supervisors, which is very important-----

Is that better? The money for the supervisors is a very important issue because these people have played an integral role in our society and have done so much for small towns and villages and have been treated very badly. I want to know for a fact if these people are going to have their pension rights and entitlements taken care of or not. When we are talking about prudence, managing finances and budgets, we have to be sure, and I have said this here already today, about what we are doing with money because people …

I want to address medical cards and the change in legislation about the amount of money allowable. That should be changed as soon as possible because the delay in getting that through is stopping people from qualifying for medical cards currently. I thank the people who work in the medical card processing unit most sincerely. There are many times when urgent cases need to have medical cards processed quickly and I want the Minister, if he has a chance today, to thank those people who work in the medical card proces…

Generally, I do not stand up to say-----

There is nobody-----

There are five people on the second round.

I have a list that shows me as being down to speak now.

I am sharing time with Deputy Michael Collins. Among the people I represent in County Kerry, there is much concern about the deal, which is being hailed as a super and great deal for Ireland. I too have to put on record my deep worries and concerns on behalf of my constituents in Kerry and throughout the rest of the country, whether they are farmers, fishermen, small business people or people who are relying on payments at present. Many of the people relying on or solely dependent on Covid-19 payments have seen tho…

When we are talking here today on these issues and other issues like it we have to talk about protecting the taxpayers' money. We were talking earlier about the deal done in recent days in Europe in terms of money and how we will disburse it but €21 million of taxpayers' money is a lot of money. On 8 May 2020, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, wrote to the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, recommending "a mandatory regime of self-isolation for 14 days at a designated facility for all persons…