There was surge capacity. I accept that.

We do not know what that is.

The Ceann Comhairle just informed the Dáil that we will do what the Taoiseach directed us to do. That might have been a slip of the tongue, and if it was I invite the Ceann Comhairle to clarify that. We have a Constitution and we have three branches of Government. One has barely functioned for the past three months, one is in self-isolation, and we are sitting. The role of the Taoiseach is not to tell the Dáil what to do. It is the role of the Dáil to hold the Taoiseach to account. I am quite concerned. I am not lo…

With regard to the previous question, I ask the Minister to take on the cartel that is the meat industry in Ireland, to which the Department is so beholden, if he wishes to do anything to help farmers. With regard to the beef exceptional aid measure farmers have to reduce their stocking densities. They are given a stocking density as an annual figure, which is confusing not just to farmers but to those who advise them. Will the Department break that down into a monthly stocking density to enable farmers to ascertai…

I thank the Minister for confirming that the online display will be updated monthly. It will be of great benefit to farmers. I will use the limited time available to me to address this idea of a protected geographical indication, PGI. It is all well and good but all of the schemes that Bord Bia has promoted have worked not to the benefit of producers but solely to the benefit of processors. They are all being used to hammer prices. This nationwide PGI, while a good idea in theory, will be just one more thing that f…

A PGI is not simply something that empowers-----

The quality assurance scheme, in theory, is a good idea.

I did not realise that. I would not have interrupted so rudely if I had known I had another minute. I think PGIs are an excellent idea but they are about producer groups, not a nationwide development that will be held hostage by processors who completely control the Irish beef industry. I know there have been complaints to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and the only people who were not investigated were in the beef industry. Farmers were investigated and farmers' groups were investigated, but t…

I share Deputy Kehoe's concerns about delays but I am also glad to hear that the Minister of State is aware of some of the environmental difficulties. The answer is not to get rid of objections but to process them and deal with them quickly and to hire suitably qualified people in the Department to vet these applications. While forestry is extremely important, the type of forestry we are carrying out at the moment does little to benefit our environment. In fact, it is completely detrimental, particularly in the way…

It is shameful that we have an agency in State ownership which does that. I ask the Minister of State to look at it.

There should be but Coillte has its own-----

Perhaps the Minister of State would visit.

I thank the Minister for coming into the Chamber to take this Topical Issue matter. As the Minister is aware, there are two types of people who benefit from bus transport. There are those who are determined to be eligible and those determined not to be eligible and who receive a concessionary ticket. As restrictions have been introduced, a squeeze has come onto people with concessionary tickets. From correspondence I have received into my office, much of which I have relayed to the Minister’s Department, it appears…

The way this is being dealt with is unsatisfactory. Parents have found out five days in advance that they were not entitled to a place. Furthermore, they are unable to contact anybody. They are told to ring a certain number and when they ring it nobody answers. In the unlikely event that somebody does answer, they are transferred to somebody else. The particular parent I cited, whose three children have been denied a place, showed up at the Bus Éireann office today and was told everyone was working from home. That …

That is a lot of children.

Will the Minister look at the case?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I wish to voice my support for the amendment proposed by Deputy Howlin. At this stage we have to ask whether this is really about the risk posed by pubs and bars or moral opprobrium and our disapproval of certain behaviour. It increasingly seems to be about the latter. Along with the entire House I voted to give draconian powers to the Minister for Health in March. I do not regret doing that in any way, but I will not vote to increase those powers at the end of November. I see no evidence to support their necessity…

Further to what Deputy Healy-Rae was saying, my understanding, if I am not incorrect about what Deputy Howlin is proposing, is that if a pub is closed for a day, it would not be conclusive that it was correct to close it for a day. Moreover, if that is being used against a publican in subsequent legal proceedings, for example, when he is renewing his licence in September, then he can then go behind that and say that he accepts that it was closed for a day but he does not accept that it was correct to do so. I think…

It would be tens of thousands of euro wasted.