Regarding another of the Deputy's points, he does not seem to accept at all-----

I have been in paediatric hospitals. I was in Clonmel hospital two weeks ago-----

In the paediatric ward in Clonmel hospital, I was told that the issue was RSV in respect of admissions into that ward and the pressure that the ward was under, and other respiratory illnesses. Turning to workplaces, the Deputy knows that we have worked with the trade union movement and the employer organisations-----

----- in respect of the return-to-work safety protocols.

Even as we speak, about 50% have returned. Huge efforts have been made in respect of workplaces to make them safe-----

In respect of ventilation in schools, I have said that 35,000 carbon dioxide monitors were distributed to schools up and down the country to monitor air quality and ensure that it was okay.

I thank the Deputy for his question. I acknowledge what he has said and agree with it. We owe an awful lot to the front-line healthcare staff for their management of the pandemic. The most important thing people can do now to help our acute services and those who work in them is to get vaccinated if they have not done so. I urge people, without judgment, to consider getting vaccinated. The good news is that up to 1,500 people are now turning up daily for their first vaccination, which shows the campaigns are beginn…

That is a very good suggestion. We thank the Deputy for volunteering for the vaccination programme early on. Others in the House also volunteered in various capacities to help out in their local communities. The voluntary, unpaid workers at the vaccination centres played a very significant role. They were partly responsible for creating the ethos of a community-based response to this one-in-100-year event. We have to keep reminding ourselves that this is a pandemic of a kind that has not been experienced since the …

First, on Deputy Mac Lochlainn's point, I find it difficult to accept the bona fides of his proposition. I do not believe he is interested in transparency at all. He gave the game away in saying I am not supposed to recite the CVs of the members because it does not matter whether they are qualified. That seems to be his implication.

With the greatest of respect, the Deputy's party has never observed process when it comes to appointing people when in government.

It is true. I can give chapter and verse on it if the Deputies want me to go through all the appointments Sinn Féin makes. All of the appointments-----

-----are characterised by the unusual coincidence that the appointees are party colleagues. The fact that people are qualified is very important. The Government has decided in respect of these members of the climate council-----

That is the process, by the way. The Government is entitled to make decisions in respect of appointing people to very important-----

That is why governments are elected in the first instance. I genuinely think that what the Deputy is really about is-----

-----undermining the Government every chance he can get and he is endeavouring to undermine the individuals. He said to ignore their qualifications, but their qualifications are important because they give the rationale for their appointment to the climate change council. That is why I itemised them last week for the Deputy.

He obviously did not like being told how qualified they are.

In terms of Deputy Healy-Rae-----

Sure I did of course.

The cat is an essential part of the family farm, as the Deputy knows. In any event-----

The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has travelled to almost every mart in the country. He has met farmers straight up - those who might agree with him and those who might disagree with him. The feedback we have received is that people have admired his honesty, his forthrightness and his ability to be accessible to farmers the length and breadth of the country. He is not going to shout out loud and so on like perhaps can be the Deputy's wont from time to time in terms of using colourful phrases and so on like that----…