-----in the Deputy's pure definition. The State intervention in Irish economic activity is enormous. You will not solve climate change by trying to take things down every day of every week when governments meeting together collectively is a positive thing. There are positives in COP26 and there were positives in Paris. People elect different leaders-----

-----who do different things. To pull everybody together in itself is an achievement, and to try to get progress we should try to will it on. Instead, what Deputy Paul Murphy is doing is stoking cynicism day in and day out, which I do not think will advance climate change one iota. He sees this just as another theatre to advance his fundamentalism and his ideological perspective-----

I attended a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, 21 October, and Friday, 22 October, in Brussels. The meeting had a very full agenda, touching on some of the most pressing issues facing the Union. We discussed Covid-19, with a particular focus on vaccination rates across the European Union, in the context of rising infection rates in some member states and tackling disinformation on the pandemic. We also discussed the importance of the global roll-out of vaccines and the central role of the World Health Or…

I checked with officials in my office before coming here and my office was not aware that an invitation had been issued to me to meet the group today. The Deputy should not politicise the issue in the way she did. I will meet groups and I went to Donegal and met homeowners. No party in this House has a monopoly on empathy and the Deputy does not either. Sinn Féin did not make this an issue in the 2020 general election. The reality is that there was not one mention of mica in its 2020 manifesto. In January 2020 Depu…

You and Deputy Mac Lochlainn thought it was okay so let us not be all self-righteous, coming in and saying that you are the great guardian and defender. You are recreating the narrative.

I do not want to get into a political spat about this. I accept the genuine views of everybody in this House and I accept that they want this issue resolved for the residents involved. This situation has far-reaching implications nationally as well. Other counties are manifesting mica problems also and the Government has to take all those implications on board. The action we take on mica will have follow-on and consequential implications for other situations in housing so we are conscious of that. Suffice to say th…

I did not design any scheme.

It is extremely important that the Deputy does not continually present misinformation to the House. She just said that I designed a scheme; I designed no scheme.

The last Government designed the scheme.

No, because we were not in government. The Deputy keeps pedalling untruth, fake news and populism.

It is all for political ends and electoral ends. Every time the Deputy does it, I will stop her in her tracks and say, "Stop peddling disinformation." I did not design any scheme and you know that-----

-----and you should acknowledge that, through the Chair. You should acknowledge that and keep to the truth.

The last scheme was prepared in good faith by the last Government-----

-----which was welcomed by Sinn Féin at the time. The scheme has to change. The residents that I met put very good issues to me at the time regarding upfront costs in terms of rental if they were out of their homes when the houses were being refurbished, but also certification so that if there was remedial work done and something happened in ten or 15 years' time, they would be covered. All of these were very legitimate issues, and that is the kind of engagement that has taken place-----

-----between the owners and the Minister. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will come to the party leaders and the Government will then take a decision on that and share that with the House.

It depends on how the Deputy defines "night club".

First of all, Deputy, I have to state that there are 464 people in hospital this morning. There are 74 in intensive care. My central objective and that of the Government is to protect lives and protect people's health. That has to be central to our consideration above and beyond anything. This is not giving out to anybody or criticising anybody, but it has to be central and it has to inform our approach. Since the spring time, we have comprehensively, gradually and cautiously reopened society, with significant bene…

We have asked it. The Minister for Health has written to NIAC in respect of healthcare workers because we do accept the Deputy's points.

I think the Deputy has raised a fair point in terms of ventilation. Guidance has issued in respect of ventilation in our schools, which resulted in CO2 monitors being provided to schools across the length and breadth of the country. Close to 90% of over-12s in the population have been vaccinated. The vaccines are very effective against severe illness, hospitalisation, death and admission to intensive care. Two thirds of people in intensive are unvaccinated. There is a waning effect. We know that. The manufacturers …

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in the House today. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, also met the consultants and would have notified me of the situation as articulated by the consultants, and as articulated this afternoon by the Deputy. It is an issue that the HSE is engaging with. Suffice to say, Covid has had a very significant impact on our hospitals.