I will ask the Minister to assess this and to see what we can do to help. I would make the point that I do take on board very seriously the report today. Mortgage lending is very robust at the moment and commencements, which are mentioned in that report, have increased very significantly. We are looking at approximately 31,000 commencements from October to October. While it is extraordinarily challenging, the help-to-buy scheme and the shared equity scheme and others will help first-time buyers. This is the highest…

To be fair, we have been generous enough in the past two years in terms of both the scale of the minor works grant scheme and the timing of it. It is not a question of schools having to choose between a broken window and a HEPA filter.

Every school is different. There are technical teams available to talk to schools in respect of what will work best for them. There is emergency works funding as well. We have already delivered 35,500 CO2 monitors to 4,000 schools across the country. They are an important aspect following the advice the Minister received. The advice also is that HEPA filters may be appropriate in certain circumstances. As I said earlier, the cost of a HEPA filter is approximately €1,800. Within the range of resources provided to sc…

The Deputy has consistently sought throughout the pandemic to paint a dismal picture of employment in this country and that the Government is somehow negligent. He needs to acknowledge that our economy is the fastest recovering economy in the European Union. We had the fastest jobs growth in quarter 3 of any EU member state. I never hear the Deputy say that in this House, because he cannot.

I expect you to acknowledge the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have gone back to work in the past number of months because of sound economic policies. Through the PUP, EWSS and other initiatives, we kept businesses and employment intact, but all I get from the Deputy every day is one tale of misery after the other. One would imagine there were thousands of people out of work all of the time.

The bottom line is this: the Minister has reintroduced PUP for those who are going to lose work as a result of the measures we introduced last week.

There are more vacancies now in our economy than there were in 2019, pre-pandemic. Maybe the Deputy should absorb that.

First, we represent all the people and we have to raise revenue generally to provide for education, our health services and social protection. That is why tax exists. I accept that, because of global developments principally, fuel prices have gone up very high. That is why we brought in and increased the fuel allowance.

I did not interrupt the Deputy.

Hold it one second, Deputy. I have also said in this House that the Government is looking at measures to help householders further to reduce their household bills in respect of electricity bills that are a consequence of increased energy costs.

That is something the Government is actively considering.

First, on the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2021, it is not the Government's fault. We published it as far back as last May. It has been in pre-legislative scrutiny in this House since. I think it is out now and that we are in a position to get the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth-----

We have just got it. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, being proactive as he is, has been working in parallel with the committee, monitoring the changes that were going to be made. The intention is to bring the Bill forward as quickly as possible. It is not the Government's fault that it has been delayed. On the regulations and so on, again we are conscious and mindful of the need to act sensitively, appropriately and in a timely manner when responding to subje…

First, the economy is recovering faster overall than any other in the European Union. One just has to look at the tax receipts which were, for the first 11 months of this year, over €62 billion. That is more than €5.3 billion ahead of target. The budget deficit this year is said to be much smaller than forecast, one of the smallest in European Union. This is basically good policy at work. It is interesting that there are 30,800 job vacancies now in the third quarter, compared to 17,900 in the same time period two y…

To be fair, the Government has not been found wanting in supporting sectors in the economy since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, in this fourth wave of the pandemic, given the overall fact that there is a lot of activity in the economy, we have to tailor-make our responses into the future. Economy-wide measures in themselves could end up supporting sectors that do not necessarily need supports. This is an evolving situation. The Minister of Finance, Deputy Donohoe, has devised amendments and adjustments to the …

In the next number of days.

Again, substantial resources have been provided by the HSE, in the context of the winter plan in particular, to facilitate the development of a number of initiatives to clear and have a better flow through hospitals, including UHL. That also includes GP liaison nurses to manage direct referrals from GPs to emergency departments, geriatric community support, enhancement and expansion of frailty intervention therapy team models and so forth. By the end of the year we will have close to 950 additional beds in the syst…

-----aspects in respect of capacity.

To be fair, two significant memorandums were decided on this morning in respect of childcare. These were brought to Cabinet by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and they relate to workforce development and funding models for childcare into the future. Substantial funding was provided in the last budget for the development of workforce pay and conditions. That now has to go to a joint labour committee, which will arrive at an agreed figure in respect of childcare workers. The pol…

I thank the Deputy for the detailed points he made in the context of supports for those in the hospitality sector. The Minister for Finance is still refining and going through those particular issues. We want to make sure that, whatever we do as a Government, we adequately support and provide supports to the hospitality sector, given the decisions that have been taken. Nightclubs are closing as a result of the measures brought in on foot of public health advice - the closing time is back to midnight - and there has…