First, I am allergic to bluster and political rhetoric as well. There is sometimes no shortage of it on Deputy Connolly's side of the House either. Furthermore, I have been committed to public housing all my life. All of my political life I have supported the provision of public housing in whatever capacity I have served, and in building local authority houses. In this Government that was formed in the past ten months there is a very strong commitment to a large social housing programme. The funding has been provid…

I belong to a party that, since its foundation, committed itself to the provision of social housing. It cleared the slums in the 1930s from Dublin, Cork and other cities, and has always remained committed to the provision of social housing. That is the party I joined. It is my commitment; it is my philosophy. The Deputy has falsely presented my ideology. My ideology is not the marketplace and it is not to commoditise housing. I have just said we are committed to providing unprecedented funding to try to create the …

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, particularly for the residents of the area and those who stand to benefit from the Kilcummin sewerage scheme. The sanctioning of the scheme is important. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, was very keen to allocate substantial resources to waste water treatment plants and to water infrastructure more generally because it is an important infrastructure for house construction as well as for water quality. It has been a long journey, as the Deputy has outlined, b…

As I have said, the money is not the issue in funding water infrastructure. Very significant allocations were made in the budget this year. Deputy Kelly is endeavouring to interject. He might have some experience of this scheme going back. I will engage-----

I know that. We will work with Irish Water.

Whose?

You are really calling on all the shots now, Deputy Healy-Rae.

You are using every degree of leverage you can for this scheme. I have often gone through Kilcummin and we might be down there again in the summer, Covid restrictions permitting. I will talk to the Minister. We will talk to Irish Water, see what the issue is and see if we can get it resolved. You have made your point, which is valid.

It is interesting how times move fairly quickly here. Deputies Duncan Smith, Cian O'Callaghan and McNamara raised aviation policy. To be fair to Deputy McNamara, he has had a consistent approach to Covid-19 from the get-go, which if he does not mind me saying so, is probably on the more civil libertarian wing, and he was never a great enthusiast for the Covid regulations per se .

I am just putting on the record how I perceive the Deputy's contributions. I say to Deputies Smith and O'Callaghan that they were the guys looking for mandatory hotel quarantine, which impacts on aviation.

It is not simplistic. You attacked the Government. Your leader attacked the Government - could not do it quick enough.

He could not have zero Covid quick enough about two months ago.

It is two months on. Of course there is an issue. There are consequences arising out of Covid-19 and the measures that we take to deal with Covid-19. Without question, aviation has been a significant casualty because of the virus and measures that have been taken which have not facilitated travel. That is simple and the correct position. You cannot have it both ways.

The Deputy cannot come into the House and attack the Government for not moving quickly enough on mandatory hotel quarantine, and I remember the debates well and the fervour with which those debates were articulated-----

-----and now, moving forward, say we do not have an aviation policy. We do and the Government will bring forward an approach to the travel issue that will be consistent with the European digital green certificate framework that the Commission, in parallel with the Parliament and the Council, has been working on. We will follow through on that. We have no issue with debating that in the House. The Government will be finalising its proposals on that next week in terms of the broader travel issue. The Government has s…

Regarding the lateness of the hour this evening, the Chief Whip said that was at the request of the Business Committee, with members and other parties wanting to discuss the cyberattack on the HSE and the restoration of service as quickly as possible. I understand that was requested at the Business Committee.

Do Members want to drop that? That was what I understood the Chief Whip had said.

I think that is reasonable, given the gravity and seriousness of the attack itself. Deputy Tóibín raised the issue of hot meals in schools. An expanded scheme has been provided for that this year. I do not know whether that necessitates changing the agenda or not. We can get the Minister to respond to Deputies about that point. On the broader point regarding Covid, that is a matter for the House and the Government does not dictate where the Dáil meets. That may be a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commissio…

I agree.

I fully accept that, a Cheann Comhairle. I endorse and agree with what you are saying but Deputy Mac Lochlainn was looking at me plaintively as if I could do something about it. I was just making the point that you have responded to public health-----