Deputy Kelly asked about the €175 threshold for the tax rebate. Deputy Ó Cuív raised this with me at a parliamentary party meeting some time ago and I know Deputy Howlin raised it in the House during the debate. The Government is responding to this and an amendment will be introduced to significantly reduce that threshold. We need a threshold from an administrative-----

There will be a threshold and it will be significantly reduced. The catalyst has been the UK's decision to leave the European Union. We will respond to that in the form of an amendment which will come before the House. One of my big concerns generally is the preparedness of Irish businesses for Brexit - deal or no deal. It is important that all companies plan and avail of the Government supports to help them to deal with issues relating to customs declarations and other forms. There is a grant for employing assista…

On behalf of the Government, I want to issue the following statement. The independence and the integrity of the Judiciary is of paramount importance. The Judiciary has played a vital role in supporting the democratic and constitutional traditions of the State since its foundation and has ensured respect for the rule of law which underpins those traditions. The Government notes the informal process, which was both transparent and comprehensive, conducted by the Judiciary to address the legitimate concerns arising fr…

First, by way of clarification, my earlier statement was on behalf of the Government. That is very important. It is a matter for the Oireachtas in its own time to decide how it wishes to proceed. That is an important point. My earlier statement in terms of the judicial issue was on behalf of the Government because the Government has a constitutional duty and responsibility relating to the judicial arm of government in terms of confidence in it. I think I might have inadvertently said I had spoken on behalf of the O…

In relation to ideology, it was a general point, not specific to this site, but it is an important point. Our party believes in social housing. That is why this year's budget is historic. Very substantial funding is going to public housing. A record sum of €3.3 billion has been allocated for housing, but we need to get projects going. We need to get houses built as well. I ask people to reflect on the fact that we are still rejecting proposals in 2020 for something that started in 2016, with the potential for 850 h…

It is a general point.

Yes, by the way, we believe in home ownership as well.

Others do not, but we believe in the concept of home ownership in anchoring communities. In any event, there will be a mix of housing. We developed the concept of mixed developments well over two decades ago on particular sites. People need to engage with a view to getting this issue resolved as reasonably and quickly as they possibly can because an awful lot of people need housing at different levels.

We are going to do the social housing side of it very strongly in 2021. Much funding has been put aside for that.

I congratulate Claire on the birth of Grace O'Leary. I was aware of the pregnancy from my conversations with organisers of the picket over recent months and their concerns for Claire during her pregnancy in what has been a very difficult situation arising from the liquidation of Debenhams and the failure, in my view, to honour the collective agreement Debenhams had entered into with the workers. The workers are not being treated fairly. I will meet representatives of Mandate to discuss the issue further and see if …

I accept the Deputy has consistently raised this. He said that no one ever said it would not be difficult. I beg to differ; the Deputy has always suggested it would be very easy. From the get-go he suggested to the workers and everybody that this is easy and can be solved by Government doing X, Y and Z. Deputy Barry has been suggesting that it is an easy thing to fix. It is not as easy as that. I have never said that. I have always said it is going to be challenging and very difficult. I respect the workers for the…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government took the decision to move to level 3, which had significant implications for hospitality in general and for pubs, then decided to restrict household visits, moved to level 4 in some counties, and then to level 5 across the entire country. What was the motivation behind all of that? The motivation was simply to reduce community transmission of the virus. Why? We wanted to reduce the number of people who will die from the virus, to reduce the number of people …

I fully appreciate the Deputy's question and his motivations. As I have said, we will engage with different sectors. We are very conscious of the enormous fiscal intervention that the Government, on behalf of the State, has had to make to underpin as many businesses and jobs as we possibly can during levels 3, 4 and 5, because the impact is very severe. It is estimated, for example, that the wage subsidy scheme, from its introduction last March to next March, will cost some €5.5 billion. There are 350,000 people on…

I thank the Deputy for raising a range of issues pertaining to west Cork. He may, at any stage, raise issues with me if he wishes. Deputies Christopher O'Sullivan and Cairns have come to me with individual projects. When the flooding happened, for example, we were able to respond quickly to some of the issues that arose. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in particular was alert and quick in responding to the needs of the various towns that were flooded. The Deputy talked about high-quality jobs. I was in Clonak…

Are they shovel ready?

There was an interesting short film in the Cork Film Festival last week on the Dursey Sound cable car. Did the Deputy see it?

It put west Cork on the map. It is a fabulous film and it was eight to ten minutes long.

It illustrates the potential of that iconic and landmark cable car, which has far more tourist potential than that for which it was originally intended. It was an extraordinary piece of filming and I recommend it to the Deputy. It also illustrated the artistic creativity that to me is the hallmark of west Cork and that will help to drive the area forward. I asked the Deputy to get those greenways shovel ready and then we will get funding for them.

The Deputy knows the story with task forces. They have been appointed since time began. It is more important to get the projects through. We have county councils and all sorts of bodies that have been created over time so let us work through the existing bodies and get LEADER funding and so on in place.

Every secondary school in west Cork got the grant that everybody else got-----