I am glad to hear the Minister say that.

I also asked about childcare for front-line staff.

That was my last question and it was not addressed. Nothing has been put in place for front-line staff in terms of childcare. It is simply not good enough and cannot continue.

I thank the Minister in advance for dealing with these very important issues. I know they have been touched on before, but on behalf of my constituents and people who have contacted me I wish to ask the Minister to strongly support the call for maternity leave to be extended. I raised this earlier with another Minister. Maternity leave should be extended for mothers at this time. It is a matter that has been raised by many representatives. There is a massive signature campaign going on, with more than 20,000 signat…

What about the seasonal workers?

I welcome the chance to again ask the Minister a number of questions. He might do his best to answer in the time allowed or, alternatively, to give me the replies in writing. Can the Minister offer further clarity around the delivery of the July provision for this year? Can he let us know when it is intended for third level colleges to return? As he can imagine, there is a lot of stress attached to third level, along with the financial pressures. Can he offer clarity on this very important issue? Will funding be pr…

I have five minutes and I want to share that with the Minister so that he can answer my questions properly. I thank the Minister for providing much clarity around the leaving certificate of 2020 last Friday. Many students are pleased with the plan while many others are not but clarification is still needed around some aspects of the announcement. This includes where a student is taking a subject outside school. My office has been contacted by many students who say their principals believe it is not possible to enga…

I appreciate that the Minister is here today and if he does not get time to answer my questions, I would be grateful for a written reply. I remind the Minister of the people who were trapped abroad when the close-down came and found themselves calling Aer Lingus call centres, which happened to be in India. I have nothing against the good people in India, but I have examples here of the phone only being answered after two hours. Could the Minister imagine being on holiday, ringing a call centre and waiting for two h…

Could we be provided with that correspondence as well?

I have a number of specific questions for the Minister. I thank him for being proactive. He has answered and been factual every time I have contacted him. I appreciate that.

There are things that I want to ask. The Kerry Dáil representatives had a two hour and 35 minute meeting this week and were told by the management and owners of the premises in question that they were given six days' notice that they were to make a direct provision centre available to the Department. Is that good practice? Is it proper that a direct provision centre would open in Cahersiveen, or anywhere else, without consultation with the people and with local representatives, be they county councillors or Dáil re…

Will the Minister agree to do an interview with Radio Kerry?

He is also responsible to the people of Kerry.

I respectfully ask the Minister to agree to it. It would be much appreciated by everybody in Kerry.

First and most important, I and the other members of the Rural Independent Group express how sorry we are for all of those who have been devastated by the loss of loved members of their families. I also want to put on the record of the Dáil that a very special friend of our own, Gene Tangney from the Black Valley, is now on day 26 of being in an induced state, fighting this virus. I hope that Gene will come out on the right side of this battle. He is a great character. The Tangney family have been close friends of …

I wish to address a number of issues. First, with regard to loans, supports and grants, the one thing I am being told by hoteliers, publicans and small business people is that they do not want loans. Quite simply, loans have to be paid back and they are already burdened with loans. If assistance is going to be given out, it will have to be in the form of grants. In other words, it will have to be money that they do not have to pay back because quite simply, they will not be able to pay it back. I also want to raise…

On a point of order. According to the ethics, Deputies are supposed to declare a possible conflict through a connected person. They are supposed to mention that, so I am doing so.

We have to declare-----

It is just doing the thing properly. We have to declare our interests.

Could the Minister be given one minute to respond?