There is an issue on the ground locally. I believe what people are saying to me. It should not happen. No one should have to go through a miscarriage on their own. That is appalling. They should not have to. If the Deputy can send me on the emails, I will pursue them with the HSE.

The PUP, in some respects, reflected what people were earning. It represented an unprecedented support of students because it would have been the first time they received welfare payments from the Department of Social Protection. The PUP was an exceptional payment in the context of the pandemic. It still represents a very unprecedented support of students by the Government over a prolonged period. If the Deputy has cases where the PUP may have put people over the threshold, he might forward them to us so we can get…

The President of Romania was anxious to help and has responded with this offer. The Danes did something similar in recent weeks and secured supplies, bearing in mind the logistics identified by Deputy Shanahan, which I had identified as having to be fulfilled in terms of the cold chain supply and the corresponding logistics. That work is ongoing between the HSE and departmental officials in respect of the follow-through and the agreement in principle arrived at on Friday.

I made my position clear on this project, which is a very good one and is very important for the region in respect of the creation of jobs, but it will also provide welcome diversification given Brexit and the need to bring more diversity into cheese products. It is a joint venture with Royal A-ware, a specialist cheese processor in the Netherlands and Belgium, which would be very advantageous to our farmers, many of whom invested on the basis of this project coming through. The project is in the judicial process s…

I know, but I still do not want to comment on what may transpire, other than to say, as I said previously, that people need to look at all of the issues with balance and perspective, in particular in terms of the economic development of the region.

We know the south-east region needs more economic development.

Aontaím leis an Teachta faoin tábhacht a bhaineann le seirbhísí faoisimh, agus admhaím go bhfuil easpa ann faoi láthair. Is gá iad a thabhairt ar ais agus seirbhísí faoisimh a chur ar fáil. De réir dealraimh beidh siad ag teacht ar ais diaidh ar ndiaidh agus beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Butler, ar thaobh amháin den scéal agus an tAire Stáit, an Teachta Rabbitte, ar an taobh eile. I will be talking to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, about elderly care, day care, respite and Alzheimer's serv…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He has been a consistent and very powerful advocate for a law in this area for some time. He has contributed to the work of the Parliament in a very informed way, resulting in the passage of this legislation. I will follow through in respect of its implementation on the ground. It would concern me if complainants were getting that type of response. Therefore, I will engage with the Minister for Justice in respect of the operationalisation of this legislation and find out w…

In the first instance, we must be careful of pre-empting the outcome of the discussions between the hospitality sector and the Government and conflating the two issues in terms of travel and the digital Covid certificate. The latter has taken considerable work and has presented many challenges given the various sources of information – vaccination, disease recovery and PCR testing, which are three aspects of the travel certificate. That said, we are on track in terms of bringing that in for the 19th in line with th…

The Government is now examining that with the industry as to how best we can operationalise it.

That is a very specific case of a specific facility, and I would not immediately have the answers. I can approach the HSE in that respect, although I do not know if the Deputy has approached the HSE or the management on the issue. I will follow through and endeavour to get an answer.

I thank the Deputy for his initiative in bringing forward this legislation. The whole area of rare diseases and orphan drugs is an important one, and there has been significant investment in research at European Union level under the Horizon programmes. There is a need here in terms of our pricing frameworks to facilitate the research and development that goes into orphan drugs in particular, which are very important for rare diseases but ordinarily would not command the necessary critical mass to facilitate the ki…

It is a very fair point. We have had a number of events and, from what I can gather, most of the outdoor events, and indoor events as well, have been well run. An evaluation is taking place and further decisions will be taken in respect of lessons learned from those events and how we can apply those lessons to further events, both outdoor and indoor. Obviously, we have to take on board international developments as well. Again, you can get a sense, in terms of what is happening in the United Kingdom, that when ther…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will go back to the Minister for Health in respect of it and see what proposals are coming forward. There has been a lot on in the health arena in the past year, as the Deputy knows, and it has been non-stop in respect of Covid and many other issues. I will pursue the matter with the Minister and get the latest update.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. The Government co-ordination committee last met yesterday, 5 July, and its next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 12 July. The committee generally meets in advance of Government meetings to review the activity of Cabinet committees, review the agenda for that week’s Government meeting, discuss political priorities and review implementation of a specified element of the programme for Government. I am a member of the committee, with the Tánaiste and the lea…

I will deal with the questions in the order that they were tabled. In response to Deputy Kelly, the Cabinet co-ordination committee does not have endless debates on every issue. Its primary focus is to clear the agenda for the Cabinet, to discuss general issues affecting Government and issues related to Covid. We have Cabinet sub-committees on Covid, as the Deputy knows, the economy, education, environment, housing and social issues. Antigen testing was on the Government agenda today and was referenced to at our me…

Indeed, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, has engaged with those in the arts and entertainment sector on a range of proposals they have brought forward and has responded generously to their suggestions. Likewise, we have met with members of a taxi group and those in that sector as well. Facilitation has been made to allow taxi drivers to earn so much. There is a threshold to facilitate that, which is important.

On Deputy Calleary's point about the Cabinet co-ordination committee, it has been briefed on cybersecurity. The cybersecurity issue had an enormous negative impact on our health services, and especially on front-line workers. I pay a very warm tribute to everybody in administration, in the higher levels of the HSE and on the front line of our healthcare services who bore the brunt of an appalling criminal act that attacked our health services and patients but, above all, put enormous strain on our workers in health…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 17, inclusive, together. As committed to in the programme for Government, the social dialogue unit has been established within the economic division of my Department to co-ordinate and support our approach to social dialogue. The unit's initial focus is on supporting, enhancing and engaging with the social partners, including through existing mechanisms such as the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which deals with labour market issues. The LEEF helped to ensure useful disc…

I take it the Deputy does not mean the political sector. It would not suit politics-----