The Deputy and her party's spokespeople agreed that it would have to be phased out. Deputy Doherty is on the record as saying that. No one expected emergency pandemic payments to remain forever. We now want to allocate resources elsewhere. We will help everybody who has difficulty getting a job as we move into the latter half of 2021. Very substantial resources are being put into upskilling provision in terms of places in further education, apprenticeships and third level education. The thousands of workers who hav…

I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy. We have not introduced a cliff edge. The opposite is the case. We have extended the PUP to September, following which there will be a phasing out of it out to next February, which will be the second anniversary of the introduction of the payment. By then the payment will have been in place for two years. It was originally introduced for 12 weeks. That was the original timeframe the then Government put in place for the PUP. The pandemic has lasted much longer than that, obvi…

By the Deputy's own admission, hundreds of thousands of people came off the PUP last year and so I think she is overstating the case. The same will happen this year. I do not accept that people currently on the PUP will not be able to get a job in the economy in the coming months. I think there will be a significant recovery. Sustaining it for the medium term is what the plan is about. It is not just about the immediate sort of bounceback that will happen in some sectors. It is also about maintaining that for the m…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. We will have to agree to disagree in terms of the issue around the imposition of restrictions in society. The measures we have taken overall have resulted in fewer deaths in Ireland and less severe illness than in other countries that took a different approach. Ultimately, the role of Government is to protect lives and public health to the very best of its ability. In terms of the nursing homes scheme, and the TAPS in particular, the first point I have to make is that the…

The supports have been very extensive. That needs to be said because very quickly they get read into the narrative and taken for granted. They have been exceptional supports because the pandemic has created a need for exceptional supports. As we get situations under control, however, the same level of supports will not be sustainable in many areas. We can work to support nursing homes in the event of any outbreaks, for example, such that assistance would be available to a nursing home in an outbreak.

The vaccination programme has had a very significant impact in bringing the situation within nursing homes under control. This does mean that we have to reconsider both the level and scale of supports if the situation comes under control in any given environment or situation. The more important point is the medium-term relationship between the State and the private nursing home sector, how it will evolve now and how we learn lessons from the pandemic in respect of that relationship.

First of all, I thank the Deputy for the question and for the very constructive and non-partisan manner in which he has raised the issue. This is an extremely important issue that always has to command the full attention of the House across all political persuasions. Families and communities the length and breadth of the country have been affected by suicide. It is important to continue to raise awareness and to speak openly about mental health. That is important within our education curriculum and outside of our e…

I agree 100% with what the Deputy said. We always have to watch out for the vulnerabilities in others and be alert and aware. As he said earlier, we should be open in talking about mental health and about suicide but also in letting people know, which I consistently say to young people, that they should be kinder to one another. In life, people should be kinder to one another than is often the case and the Deputy referenced that in his earlier remarks. It is very important in a group or crowded setting to be very c…

I reject the assertions by Deputy Carthy that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is endeavouring to disadvantage Irish farmers-----

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an outrageous assertion to make-----

I did not interrupt the Deputy. The Minister is committed to agriculture and Irish farmers, and genuinely so. That should not be taken by-----

He is not.

The Deputy's mask slips every so often in regard to his basically anti-European Union position, in terms of net contributions and all the rest. He has fought against the European Union all his life-----

The Deputy will present everything and create a negative narrative on the European Union.

The Deputy has been against the European Union all his life.

I want to be co-operative but if assertions are made that have nothing to do with the Order of Business-----

In that case, I think we will have to deal with that in the Business Committee because it is a recurring feature that this is an extended part of Leaders' Questions. That is what is going on here.

The issues have not come to a conclusion, so we will have time for a debate next week. To respond to Deputy Michael Collins, he did not ring me, and if the situation was that serious, he should have done so.

The Deputy knows how to ring me. He rang me often enough previous times.

You did when you were first elected-----