The vast majority of people-----

The people have adhered, by and large, to the restrictions. When one makes something illegal and a penal provision is made, it has an impact in people's behaviour. It has had an impact on people's behaviour. Consider mask wearing, for example. I pushed very hard to make mask wearing compulsory in public-----

-----but we were told it would not be enforceable. If we brought it in for public transport, we were asked who would enforce it. Would it be the bus drivers or the gardaí and all of that kind of stuff? I heard all the problems about it. It was enforced from day one by the people. The people themselves adhered to it.

Likewise, this measure will have an impact.

I said in respect of the bedroom that it was not enforceable and the Deputy deliberately twisted it in her response. Home quarantining can be-----

Home quarantining can be more readily enforceable than just swinging into somebody's bedroom, and the Deputy knows this.

I dispute the Deputy's assertion that the Government has not engaged on this issue. It has. I was very clear and honest in our presentation to the workers from the get go. Politically, others created expectations that were never going to be realised within the legal framework available to the Government. The Government is not responsible for the actions of the company. The company has treated the workers very badly. Government is the only party to this entire dispute that has actually fulfilled its obligations, and…

The two situations are not comparable at all. No ex gratia payments were made by the Government in respect of the liquidation of IBRC.

None was made by the State at all. The Deputy knows that the Debenhams liquidation is a court-supervised liquidation.

It is one with which the Government could not interfere. The Oireachtas liquidated the IBRC in an all-night sitting. The Oireachtas did not liquidate Debenhams. There are fundamental differences and the Deputy knows it, but he is being populist in his presentation of the issues.

That is what he is doing and has been doing, with others, since the commencement of this dispute. I do not doubt the Deputy's sincerity about looking after the workers, but he also creates platforms to increase support for his movement. That is in a lot of the approaches he adopts.

The Deputy seeks to apportion blame. The State is not a guilty party to this. It has upheld its obligations to the workers and, believe me, we tried everything we could within the law to support the workers in terms of facilitating arbitration and so forth. That is our position.

Unprecedented resources have been allocated to the health services this year, including in Waterford. That will continue, in the context of both Covid-19 and non-Covid health services. There are unprecedented resources across the board, including in University Hospital Waterford. The Waterford catheterisation laboratory project is happening in terms of the tendering process and so forth, and the Deputy knows that. We will see that brought to fruition given that the tendering process is close to completion. The Depu…

My understanding is that that second hospital in Cork was announced about five or six years ago and was included in some reconfiguration report. It took some time even for a working committee to be established to consider it. I can tell the Deputy one thing: the cath lab will be built before any movement is made on that hospital. The real point here is that for years people have campaigned for WIT to evolve into a technological university. That has happened across the country, with the three ITs getting together in…

Throughout my political life I have been a very strong supporter of Parliament and accountability in Parliament, whether in opposition or in government. I am in here every week. In this country, taoisigh are in Parliament far more than their counterparts in other jurisdictions across Europe. That is a good thing. It is a fact that does not get-----

No, I am not speaking about China or Korea. I am speaking about closer to home in terms of presence and attendance at Parliament. In the Dáil, it has been a long-standing feature that taoisigh spend more time in the Chamber answering questions than do their counterparts in other European Parliaments. That is all I am saying.

The problem right now is the variant. There is genuine concern regarding the degree to which the variant can transmit more easily. There is concern that we could be plateauing at the level we are at now because of the impact of the variant. That concern is a genuine one. We need to monitor what is going on more generally in various workplaces. That said, every week the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, has been in this Chamber discussing vaccines and addressing issues raised by people in regard to the vaccinati…

Again, the bulk of those have been administered within time. That was dealt with in questions last week and in the previous week. This week, what is envisaged is statements and questions on mental health and Covid. Some 100 minutes fixed debate is provided. That is very important. Many Deputies have raised issues about mental health and Covid and we need to debate that issue. It needs to be debated in the media as well. The media are entitled to engage with politicians in the media as well, if necessary. A further …

The Deputy is deliberately distorting what I said. I was responding to Deputy Mac Lochlainn, who legitimately raised issues around the sitting of Parliament and so on. I was not justifying anything in regard to the number of days here and so on. I get the impression that Deputy Boyd Barrett wants to create opportunities to hog the debate himself, to the detriment of many other backbenchers from other parties across the House. He wants to create scenarios where he is getting far more of an input than others. The Dep…

The Deputy asked for it, but unless the House sits for 24 hours on the trot, I do not see how he will get everything in. That is just the reality. Next, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is coming in to discuss the impact of Covid on childcare. There are also 100 minutes fixed for that debate.