What is the situation regarding the flu virus this year? Does the Minister anticipate that the flu will come here? If it is not here, why is that the case? Is it because people have behaved reasonably responsibly?

I listened with interest to the Minister of State's presentation this morning. I am slightly bemused by the commitment in the programme for Government and the lack of action on it to develop offshore energy. Obviously, a large amount of the renewable energy we are purchasing from Denmark is offshore energy. Perhaps, people have had the opportunity to see television documentaries on it or see them in person. One can even see huge amount of offshore energy as one arrives in Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup. I ask the Mini…

I endorse all of what was just said by Deputy Connolly, in particular her final comment. We are always being told to listen to the medical experts. The medical experts have been very clear that vaccines do offer great hope in the future, but they do not offer a silver bullet now. We need to have a lot of other measures in place and to continue to look at what we need to do now. I am slightly perplexed by the criticisms of this motion. I thank Deputy Nolan and her colleagues in the Rural Independent Group for bringi…

It is the Taoiseach's last Leaders' Questions of the year. When he was elected Taoiseach six months ago in this venue, I raised the issue of the Shannon Group, the airport and the entirety of the group, and its centrality to the economic well-being of the mid-west. Since then, we found out that the entire western seaboard was disproportionately affected by the State's response to Covid-19. What is the plan to support aviation and tourism across the mid-west and the entire west next year? What is the plan for Shanno…

Will there be a discussion?

Much has been made of rule of law breaches and potential sanctions for Hungary and Poland. These breaches of the rule of law were brought about through two primary methods. One was to circumvent and hollow out democratic debate. Parliamentary majorities were used to ensure that debate was stymied and that issues were not properly debated. The second method was to appoint cronies as judges. On the first point, I will return to the issue that 55 minutes was given to this Parliament to debate the ratification of the C…

It is not being used here at all.

I agree, let us have screening.

Bank guarantee, here we come.

The final report of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response recommended a move away from residential care towards care in the community for elderly people. In part, this was based on its interim report but it was also influenced by the Covid-19 nursing homes expert panel report. There are various reports going back to Time to Move on from Congregated Settings - A Strategy for Community Inclusion, a HSE report from 2011. Today, the Sage Advocacy group again called for greater choice to be provided to our elderly …

In the months since the Government came into office, complaints against telecommunications providers - in particular Eir but also Vodafone and others - have rocketed. The programme for Government commits to giving ComReg additional powers. Yesterday the chairman of ComReg called for those powers, in particular powers to levy administrative sanctions and fines. When will the Government introduce legislation to give effect to that?

Like Deputy Ward, I wish to raise the cases that were brought to light by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. It is embarrassing, at the very least, for the State that people should be treated in this way in our country. It is especially embarrassing that such treatment should only come to light through the visit of a delegation from an international body. It is unacceptable that, in this century, people would be treated in the ways that were identified, including, in one case, being found lying in their o…

On a point of order, I wish to make clear that the prisoner to whom I referred was being held in Cloverhill Prison and not the Central Mental Hospital. The ill treatment did not occur in the Central Mental Hospital. I make that point lest anybody think that because the Central Mental Hospital is the subject of the Bill, the prisoner's ill treatment occurred there. It did not. It is quite clear that it occurred in Cloverhill.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I very much appreciate being facilitated in contributing to the debate on this very important issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, sat over there when I spoke in the debate relating to the rolling over of emergency powers. I asked what mental health data was being considered and I was told that it would be published. Since then, I have ascertained that there are essentially two bodies collecting mental health data. The first of these is National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. We…

A couple of weeks ago, the Taoiseach met with his fellow European leaders to discuss the role of antigen testing, pursuant to the Commission's proposal. Antigen testing is not a medical diagnosis and it is not an alternative to polymerase chain reaction, PCR, testing, but it does offer benefits, particularly in screening. Everybody is concerned, particularly the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, about the potential effects of people mixing this Christmas. Will the Taoiseach consider State provision of rapid antigen tests…

What about the office of the Taoiseach?

It has come to my attention that banks are refusing mortgages to people on the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and other similar pandemic subsidies from the Government. I refer not just to one bank but to many, in different counties, so it is now a systemic problem. One might say a mortgage relationship is a private contractual relationship between an applicant and a bank, but one might equally say accommodation is a private contractual relationship. Nevertheless, we have outlawed discrimination by landlords …

It has been announced that residents in hospitals and nursing homes will be allowed to receive one visit per week. I understand that this is to protect them and other residents but we are now eight months into this pandemic; is there nothing more that we can do to ensure that families can see their parents, children or siblings who may be in hospitals? The issue of antigen testing and the screening opportunities it provides was discussed by EU leaders, including the Taoiseach, in November. Surely people who are wil…

Like Deputy Tóibín, I listened with interest to the Minister's interview with LMFM, in particular the part where she said she knew there were two vacancies on the Supreme Court but she was only asked to fill one, so she filled one, and if she is asked to fill the other, she will do that. However, section 16(5) of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995 states: "Where more than one judicial office in the same court stands vacant, or in advance of more than one vacancy arising in the same court, at the request of the …

It is clear that the Minister asked the board to fill one role. The law is very clear about who needs to sit on the board; indeed, the Minister listed them on LMFM. Can she confirm that all those people who are required to be on the board, sat on the board and that it was duly convened? It is important because the JAAB is really what all this is about. The Minister is sheltering behind it.