That will happen as Taoiseach. I will ensure, along with my Government colleagues, that we work collectively with the social partners to take the country through the greatest challenge it has with the global pandemic, to keep our economy and the edifice of our economy intact, to protect people's livelihoods, and to work in health, education and housing. These are the essentials for the people who are watching this. Those are the issues they care about most. Those are the issues they want this Oireachtas and the Gov…

I have said numerous times in the House that the staff in Debenhams have been treated very unfairly and appallingly in this very protracted dispute by the company. In fairness to the Deputy, he has raised this issue consistently in the House and he is anxious that talks would develop. KPMG was approached to enter talks on behalf of Debenhams to try to resolve the outstanding claims. Those talks, which were being facilitated by the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, unfortunately broke down on Monday. I will conta…

If only it was as simple as the Deputy articulates it, but it is not and he knows that. That is the unfortunate reality. The implementation of the Duffy-Cahill recommendations would not have resolved this. The Government is committed to and is undertaking the reform of company law, particularly in improving the rights of workers where collective agreements have been formulated and signed off by both employers and unions and to give greater and stronger protection to such collective agreements in the event of liquid…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government recently considered the report of the group chaired by Dr. Catherine Day. It is a very comprehensive report which goes through the entire spectrum of issues in regard to international protection. The programme for Government contains a commitment to end the current system of direction provision within the lifetime of the Government and replace it with a new international protection and accommodation policy centred on a not-for-profit approach. We accept that…

I am meeting Dr. Catherine Day tomorrow to discuss the work of the advisory group, with a view to examining in detail how we can develop and implement the very comprehensive agenda set out in the group's report. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, one of the reasons we brought in serial testing was to make sure we could help the residents in direct provision. We wanted to be of assistance in terms of communications around Covid-19 by ensuring multilingual information would be available to those seeking internati…

We will continue to progress that as well.

It is not going to be put to one side because of-----

There are elements of it that can be progressed and we will drive on with them. There will be improvements but there are also significant challenges. The accommodation aspect is something we will have to work on in order to ensure we can deal with those challenges and move on with the White Paper process. There are immediate issues that we can deal with, as I outlined. The Deputy can take it that we want to implement the programme for Government's objectives in this regard.

First of all, the Deputy will be happy to hear that I agree with her that clothes are essential, particularly for children. The Deputy was in favour of the level 5 restrictions, as advised by NPHET, which include the closure of non-essential retail. Retail outlets have provided a number of options, such as click and collect, where people can make a telephone call, order clothes and call in to collect them. There is also the online option. I accept that while it is being well used, it is not available to everybody. …

I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that is very important to many people in our society. I will certainly engage with the Minister in this regard but the heads of the Bill are expected shortly. I will keep a sharp eye on that for the Deputy.

I understand that the word "shortly"-----

I am of the view that the general data protection regulation, GDPR, applies to requests for access to personal data. This is also the view of the Attorney General. I was involved in the establishment of the Ryan commission, which was then the Laffoy commission. As Minister for Education and Science at the time, I opened all of the files to historians at the time and gave them access.

I know. I am going to come to that. I have no interest in any records being put into a vault to which no one has access and left there for a long time. As a Government, we have decided to establish a national centre in which the archives of the industrial schools, Magdalen laundries and mother and baby homes will be held. It will not only be an archive. We will try to be creative. This is where the story of dark chapters of our past will be told. Clearly, there will be legal issues involved. The expansion of GDPR i…

First of all, the election is not over. The last time I listened to coverage of it was early this morning and it seemed the race was going to be very tight and there were many votes yet to be counted. The United States is one of the oldest democracies in the world. It has always managed its elections in a peaceful and democratic way and I have no doubt that this will also be the case on this occasion. We should not jump to conclusions. It is a fraught time for all of those involved in the election. It is a tense ti…

I join with the Deputy in articulating our disgust at the unacceptable use of illegal fireworks in communities across the country. I agree with him about the frustration of many living in different communities at their indiscriminate and intimidating use. The Minister for Justice and her Department run a safety campaign aimed at ensuring public awareness of the dangers of illegal fireworks and bonfires. I will discuss this matter with the Minister for Justice with a view to a crackdown on this kind of behaviour. It…

I have no difficulty working with any Oireachtas Member from Tipperary, or indeed any local authority member, in respect of any specific issues. The Deputy seems to be raising an issue with which the local authority is dealing. The local authority should consult, engage and deal with the issue. I will, however, take advice from Oireachtas Members. We can talk about it again and determine how best to proceed.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We are all determined to deliver all public services for citizens in a safe way. The driver testing service was closed during the last lockdown, which led to a considerable backlog. I will discuss the issue with the Minister to see if we can find a way to deal with the issues the Deputy has raised. Perhaps the Deputy could communicate details of any particular cases he knows of that illustrate the difficulties people are experiencing to my office or that of the Minister. I…

The first obligation of a Government, the health services and public health authorities is to protect people's lives and health. That is why the very difficult measures that apply to nursing homes, and particularly visits to such homes, have been introduced. That said, there have been various innovative mechanisms found to try to deal with the isolation described by the Deputy. In particular, last week we launched the third pillar of the living with Covid-19 plan, which deals with community resilience and how group…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Substantial additional funding was provided in the budget to deal with approval of new medicines, but there are procedures through which those medicines must be approved. That is enshrined in legislation that was passed by these Houses. Those procedures must be followed. We will keep a very close eye on this and ensure these matters are progressed as quickly as possible. I understand, in the context of rare diseases, that orphan drugs are very often the only lifeline for …

Level 5 does not ban trade in any particular commodity but it places restrictions on where the trade can occur. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter for an important sector, and it is a significant industry over the Christmas period. The objective is to get to the end of November and leave level 5, and that would give us greater flexibility for the remainder of December with respect to retail and trade and give people opportunities in the lead-up to Christmas. The means by which people trade has not been banne…