I am not going to attack the Government here tonight. I will plead with the Government. The week before last I went to the Debenhams workers in Tralee where Debenhams has a branch and where many people from Kerry have worked and have given the best years of their lives to Debenhams. Those people asked if I would go back to Dublin and ask the Government to support them. This is a very ordinary and humble request from people who have paid their tax and who every week on their pay cheque have seen tax deducted at sour…

Is the Government decision, based on medical advice, to keep our pubs closed until 10 August? This is a retrograde step. Our hard-working publicans and, very importantly, their customers as well, are being treated very unfairly. In the interest of keeping things proper and correct, I declare at the beginning that I am connected to a person who owns a pub. Our public houses have served us very well over the years. The Vintners' Federation of Ireland, VFI, is a very responsible organisation representing very responsi…

The Tánaiste is a doctor. Will he explain to me why eating a sandwich or not poses a public health danger to a person drinking a pint? It is a crazy decision by the Government. I really feel very bad. Today, on behalf of every publican, be it a man or a woman or a younger person in charge of a pub looking forward to opening next Monday, I want to tell the Tánaiste they are extremely angry about the way they have been treated by the Government. They are responsible people. They are more interested in public health t…

-----where they know their customers and they want to mind them. They were going to mind them next Monday but now the Government has pulled the rug out from underneath them.

I thank the Tánaiste. What the Government has done is create another problem. These small businesses that were looking forward to standing on their own legs next Monday and opening their doors will now be faced with the financial burden of another 25 days with the doors closed. What proposals does the Government have, and I am not talking about loans but grants and substantial assistance to be made available to these businesses, to allow them to carry on their businesses when the Government eventually decides to le…

-----and any decision made with regard to house parties-----

We welcome anything that would control that sort of nonsense but please, for God's sake, recognise the fact that our publicans are responsible people who run good houses.

I thank the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Harris. I get great personal satisfaction from the fact that for the first time ever I am addressing a Minister with responsibility for education who is from Kerry. I am very glad that is the case. What we are asked to debate here today is very unusual because we are talking about Revised Estimates, which involve a lot of money, while at the same time there is a high level of uncertainty and chaos in the education system. Principals of national and secondary schools, people…

I again condemn the dropping of the Shannon LNG project, which will come back to bite this Government and future Governments because of the security we would have had from that vital infrastructure. It has been thrown out the window quite simply because it was demanded by the Green Party upon entering into government. A very high price will be paid by the Irish people with regard to that issue in the future. Over the next few months, we have to ensure proper funding is secured and put in place, now more than ever b…

I want to take this opportunity, because I did not have one already, to congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, and wish him nothing but good luck in his role in the Government. I sincerely congratulate him. This is a very important time, as I said in an earlier debate, because the decisions taken and the legislation being passed by the Dáil in the coming days and weeks before the end of July is very important. Every bit of funding that can be got for the July stimulus must be used wisely, which is th…

I wish the Minister of State well in his new role, which is very important. This debate, however, is the start of the knocking of, and the campaign against, people in rural Ireland. Early this morning on Newstalk, I had to defend people who want to build homes in rural areas because the Green Party has a policy whereby they will be asked to pay for the broadband they might receive in the future as a condition for the grant of planning permission by the local authority. This evening we are talking about more imposit…

I wish to speak to the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill because it is important. We, as Members, are elected to represent our constituents from all around the country, and I, for County Kerry, support the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill, quite simply because every method of finance that is directed, particularly to our SMEs, is important at this critical time. I am here today to represent the business people of Kerry - the farmers, fishermen, small operators, and whatever type of people who are…

SI 120/2020 - Health Act 1947 (Affected Areas) Order, made on 7 April, provides: "It is hereby declared that the State (being every area or region thereof) is an area where there is known or thought to be sustained human transmission of Covid-19". While it may have been the case on 7 April that there was known or thought to be sustained human transmission in every area or region, it is obvious that this is no longer the case. Deputy Michael Collins, a member of our group who is on the Special Committee on Covid-19 …

I also thank the Labour Party for bringing this important debate before the House. I wish to record a very specific interest, as I always do, when I have something to declare. I have been involved in the job of providing accommodation since I was 19 years old so I am sort of qualified to talk about the problem in Ireland today. There is nothing wrong with people finding themselves in a position of needing to rent private accommodation. However, renting is not the long-term solution to their housing needs. The right…

While everybody is only trying to do their best, it works on both sides. Politicians have to remember that if we hunt the people out of providing private accommodation-----

-----the Government will not be able to fill that gap and make up the difference. We have to ensure we do not hunt people out of providing private accommodation, because that would not be a solution to people’s housing needs.

I believe Deputy Mattie McGrath is not attending.

Do we have three minutes each?

I am glad to speak on this important issue of Revised Estimates. I will say first that I wish the Tánaiste every good luck and success in his new role. It is important, as the Tánaiste has rightly pointed out, that we retain and continue to have the confidence of the markets and that we have access to what I would call "affordable money", because money needs to be pumped into the economy to try to get us over the crisis. Billions of euro have been wiped off our businesses' turnover, particularly if one looks at the…

First, I personally wish the new Minister for Health every good luck. As I said in my first address on his nomination, he made a massive transformation. He certainly played his political cards in a very special way and I compliment him very much. I hope he will be able to represent not just his constituency but the people of the country, who are looking forward to better healthcare, in a special and hard-working way. My office is near his old office and I know he was extremely focused and hard working. When one is …