I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I acknowledge his work on it and his role in bringing forward the issue. The issue set out in the report is deeply disturbing. The fact it continued over such a period of time with the knowledge of people on the ground and members of staff is quite shocking. I will have to ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy on the intention to publish the report. I certainly believe in openness. If there is no compelling reason not to publish it, then I believe it should be pub…

At a human level, this has been one of the most difficult issues that has presented itself over the past 21 months or so where people have not been able to visit loved ones in hospital where they have been in very difficult circumstances and acute need. As the Deputy will know, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has issued guidance on access to acute hospitals over the course of the pandemic. It is important that all steps are taken to prevent infection spread throughout the hospital system. Decisions are ma…

I will pass on the Deputy's request for a meeting to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, but it is worth highlighting the work that we have done on this issue. Up to yesterday, the Government had already approved a donation of up to 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries in the coming months. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, received the approval of Government for a further commitment to bring our overall contribution up to 3 million surplus Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries. Ireland is playi…

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this issue and for his ongoing representations in support of the development of the PEACE PLUS programme. My Department has responsibility, on the part of the Irish Government, for the roll-out of this programme, working with the Northern Executive and, of course, the UK Government and the special EU programmes body. We have a very exciting programme at a value of €1.145 billion that has been approved by the Irish Government. The next step is for the draft programme to be submitted …

I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to come back to the Deputy on this issue of survivors of thalidomide and the legislation to which the Deputy has referred. He will come back to the Deputy with a specific update on that.

I thank Deputy Devlin for raising this issue and for acknowledging the importance of the booster vaccination programme. I can tell the House that, yesterday, 45,000 booster vaccines were administered, which was the single biggest number to date in the booster programme. Those between the ages of 40 and 49 will start to receive the booster vaccine no later than the week commencing 27 December. We are concerned about the specific issue raised by the Deputy about people who have received the single-shot Janssen vaccin…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government welcomes the decision of the UK Supreme Court this morning in respect of the hooded men case. We will, of course, study the findings of that judgment very carefully. I am sure the Deputy will be aware that in the course of their campaign, the Government has met and engaged with the men and, indeed, has supported their case, including as it was brought to the European Court of Human Rights. I have no doubt the Taoiseach will now follow up on this issue at the…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and for his continued interest in this matter. I will raise the specific issue with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. The additional funding he has provided will be very much welcomed and put to good use. It is important to state that there is already extensive legislation in place that imposes clear legal obligations in the context of animal welfare. We now need to see enforcement of those regulations. The Minister will revert to the Deputy on the specific point raised.

I thank the Deputy. The roll-out of the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds who are immunosuppressed and the most vulnerable will start next week. In fact, the vaccines of the particular paediatric Pfizer dose arrived in the country today. That will start next week. For all other five- to 11-year-olds, it will start in early January. The Government has no plans for schools to close early before Christmas. It is important to state that many schools in 11 or 12 counties lost two days due to Storm Barra. We must also be…

I will do my best. I thank Deputy Clarke for her question. I heard a member of the Women of Honour group speaking on the "Saturday with Katie Hannon" radio programme last Saturday. There was to be a further engagement with the Department of Defence. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will give an update on that. He is certainly satisfied that the terms of reference for the independent review are completely independent and that further steps beyond that are not being ruled out. I will ask him to revert to the D…

I move: That Revised Estimates for the Public Services for the year ending 31st December, 2022, be presented to the Dáil and circulated to members, pursuant to Standing Orders 95(1)(a) and 215.”

I thank all the Deputies for contributing to the debate. As they highlighted, the Bill is an important piece of housekeeping in which the Oireachtas has to engage every year to ensure we have a proper legal basis for the moneys that were spent over the course of that year and to ensure spending can continue into the following year before the House approves the Estimates for that year. The issues raised over the course of this debate were many and varied. A number of Deputies highlighted the exceptional support that…

I move: That, pursuant to subsection (2) of section 2 of the Ombudsman Act 1980, and subsection(4) of section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014, Dáil Éireann recommends the appointment of Mr. Ger Deering, by the President to be the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the Appropriation Bill 2021 to the House. This Bill is essential financial legislation that must be concluded in the current year. The Appropriation Bill has two primary purposes. First, it provides legal authorisation for all of the expenditure that has occurred in 2021 on the basis of the Estimates voted on by the Dáil over the course of the year. These allocations, known as the amounts to be appropriated for the …

I thank the Chair for those remarks and for welcoming me back to the House today. I am delighted this issue has been ventilated in the way it has over the past week or so. In this regard, I took the Commencement matter and took this Bill through the Dáil last week. This issue was discussed at length yesterday on Second Stage in this House and was discussed again today. That is positive and can only be good. I can certainly say I have learned a lot about this issue in the past short while and look forward to progres…

I am happy to give the commitment that, if I am invited, I will come back within six months to update the House on my role in this matter. I would earnestly hope this issue will be dealt with within that timeframe, and that is certainly what I want to see happen. There is no need for endless negotiations or months of talks from 28 January. In regard to the other question on the role of the commission and then, within that, the role of the HR department vis-à-vis the members of the commission, I look at the Act and …

The commission is empowered. It is a matter for the commission to decide how it arrives at its position and how that proposal is formed in respect of the input of the members of the commission and the officials who serve it and support its work. Exactly how that proposal will be formed is a matter for the internal workings of the commission.

The commission will make a proposal. In reality, that will follow a negotiation. We must let that negotiation take place. The manner in which this issue has been debated and highlighted in the past week or so will prove to be very helpful.

I am pleased to be here this afternoon and to have the opportunity to present the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021 to the House, which passed all Stages in the Dáil last week. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission came into existence on 1 January 2004 under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003. The founding commission legislation in 2003 led, in summary, to two consequences: first, that the commission became the sanctioning authority for expenditure and for deciding on staff n…

While funding is the sole purpose of the Bill, a number of amendments of a technical nature are required. I will briefly provide Senators with details of the amendments involved. Section 1 amends section 5 of the principal Act to provide funding for expenditure incurred by the commission during the period of three years from 1 January 2022. The amount of funding for that period is capped at €462.505 million. Section 2 is a standard form provision and sets out the Short Title, collective citation and commencement da…