I am not going to go into specifics now because it could influence or have an impact on the negotiations. It might be perceived in a certain way. There are realities that Europe will have to consider, such as what will happen if we are in a no-deal scenario and what contingency plans Europe will apply and in what form.

We are in a negotiating process. Let us, first, work on ensuring we can bring the United Kingdom to the promised landing zone. Having been apprised by Michel Barnier, I believe the UK can get to a proper landing zone, even on the key issues of a level playing field, governance and fishing. I believe that a great deal of progress was made in earlier chapters of the negotiating process, while on four others, considerable progress was made. In my view, it is possible to get an agreement. If we start talking about what…

We have put on record that contingency has to happen.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 6, inclusive, together. The programme for Government sets out the Government's commitment to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. A shared island unit has been established in my Department to support this work. The unit is led by an assistant secretary and its work is proceeding to examine the considerations for a shared future in which all traditions are mutually respected,…

I thank the Deputies for raising the issues. It was my initiative to secure €500 million additional and ring-fenced funding for the shared island agenda. Deputy Howlin, as a former Minister, will be aware that successive Governments since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and I am not casting aspersions on any specific Government, have only done some projects on canals and all of that. If only one Department is given responsibility for shared island projects, it will always find other projects that will com…

The Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Taoiseach will have oversight. We will work with individual Departments and agencies on delivery. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will have a key oversight role. Reference was made to the House of Lords and that is an interesting presentation. Building relationships is key to this and I would like Deputies and Senators to build settings and approaches in that regard, including through the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Frida…

We secured €120 million from the European package, which is very good news because, of course, that has to be more than matched by the British Government at a ratio of either 2:1 or 3:1; let us work from the higher number. We also have to match it, so that gets us substantial funding that will be organised separately from this, involving separate accountancy, approach and all of that. We are pleased with the Commission for doing that, and President Ursula von der Leyen in particular for being facilitative in that r…

Our geography is substantially different and whether we like it or not, there are two separate jurisdictions operating on the island, governed by an Executive and Assembly in the North, the Government and Oireachtas here. Those are realities. We have a long Border. It is not possible to seal the Border to pursue a zero-Covid strategy. Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about concrete stuff which is not nebulous. When we had problems and moved Donegal to level 3, I approached the First Minister, Arlene Foster, and deputy Fir…

I attended a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 15 and 16 October. The agenda included Brexit, Covid-19, climate action, EU relations with Africa, and a number of external relations issues. On Brexit, the European Union chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, shared his assessment of the state of play in the negotiations. While recalling our determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the United Kingdom, the European Council noted that further progress was needed on a number of key issues, i…

No, the Deputy extolled the virtues of a national health service in Germany. It did not actually apply to testing.

I learned a lot. The Dutch support our plan. Other Parliaments-----

I accept that moving to level 5 creates a lot of anxiety, difficulties and challenges for people, particularly people in employment who will now lose their jobs and enterprises that have struggled through the pandemic and since reopening have been endeavouring through hard work and putting in place safe protocols to save their enterprises and keep them going which, to a large extent, many did. To be hit with a move to level 5 is a huge blow to them. That is accepted. That is why it is a difficult decision to move t…

The Deputy continues to play the populist card. The first thing she could do is talk to her party colleagues in the North and get them to do much better in terms of mortgage breaks. They are offering only three-month payment breaks that can be extended after assessment, unlike the Irish payment break, which was for six months in total without assessment.

Deputy McDonald needs to get her own house in order. She continues to lecture people in here all the time about what we should be doing, but her party does not deliver where it has power and is in government. It is always somebody else's responsibility but never the Deputy's. That is always her story in terms of any issue. The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform do not waltz in to meet the banks. Let us have less of that nonsense. They go in there to seek the best they can, which is the right de…

The Deputy is again being deliberately distortive in her assessments and assertions.

It is somebody else's turn to talk now, Deputy.

I thank the Deputy for his comments and support for the Government's decision. On the metrics, NPHET has been clear that we have to get consistently below R=1. Ideally NPHET would want us to get it to 0.5, although it would be very challenging to do so in six weeks. There are other measures that we need to get consistently going on a downward trajectory. Other factors would have to be considered as well, as is the situation within the plan. Those are the broad metrics, particularly getting the R number well below 1…

I will engage with Deputy Kelly, the Minister for Health and others on Deputy Kelly's ideas about the bubble and with other Members of the House on how it can be, in the Deputy's words, simplified, particularly in respect of subsequent adherence and enforcement. However, it is not really a measure that one would enforce; rather, it is a measure one would want to make sure is useful for the correct purposes. I will have to check those recruitment figures with the Deputy and I will talk to the HSE. There can be stati…

-----there is no shortage of resources being given to the health service and the HSE right now to expand numbers and deliver over 1,200 acute hospital beds for next year in community, rehabilitation, acute - right across the board. The recruitment will continue. Another challenge, as we recruit into the HSE system, is to make sure that nursing homes and so on do not come under pressure as a result of that recruitment effort. That is an important issue that we have to keep an eye on.

I thank the Deputy for her comments. We had an all-party leaders' meeting last Monday week.