-----that is the process that came. It is not to audit the Department; it is to audit the process, which is important-----

It is a full, independent, external audit. It is the correct thing to do. It is a good thing to do.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. Both the high level review of the economy and the development of new measures of well-being and progress will be taken forward as part of the ongoing work on the development of a national economic plan and its associated work streams. As committed to in the programme for Government, work is under way to develop a national economic plan, which will follow after the budget with a focus on the priorities and objectives for Ireland's economic recovery. We ar…

First, we have not been giving money hand over fist to big business. The funding has been directed through wage subsidy schemes and more than €3.5 billion has been paid through the PUP alone. There are 350,000 workers whose jobs are underpinned by the wage subsidy scheme. By any standard that is an extraordinary intervention as the Covid-19 pandemic is an extraordinary event. This has been necessary because Covid-19 has had an impact on the very sectors mentioned by the Deputy. Covid-19 has made congregation almost…

I said it was last week. I do not have the specific date. That was when it was initially alerted and then the Department had to find out what was involved and the details. The economic plan is the subject matter of this question. We want to think about where the economy and society will go after Covid-19. Today's Economic and Social Research Institute report mentions a potentially better balance in housing supply and economic activity in the regions, as well as investment in broadband, the climate change agenda and…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together. The Cabinet co-ordination committee meets in advance of Government meetings and last met on 28 September. The committee was established by the Government to review the activity of Cabinet committees, review the agenda for each week's Government meeting, discuss political priorities, and review the implementation of a specified element of the programme for Government. I am a member of the committee, as are the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party. The Secretar…

This is very worrying and upsetting for the students concerned. Of that there is no doubt. Covid-19 has had an extraordinarily negative impact on their educational year. In the first instance it resulted in the cancellation of the normal physical leaving certificate exam as we knew it. In May, it was decided to proceed with a calculated grades process which in itself was a unique approach to dealing with the leaving certificate results and, critically, students' progression to further courses, particularly at third…

It is important that that be done. There is a set timeframe which the Minister will reveal. It is very, very regrettable. Believe me, it is not something about which I or anybody wanted to hear, least of all the students themselves. I know it will cause additional alarm and worry. The objective now is to reassure students in terms of the places they already have and, if necessary, in terms of creating additional places for students who may now qualify for third level courses. All of that has to be still worked out …

No. The Department will make a presentation on that this afternoon publicly and comprehensively, which is the correct thing to do. The Department has carried out a series of further checks. It has identified no further errors in the coding and it has checked that the coding-----

There is no issue with the Minister coming in. She will present to the Dáil.

That depends on logistics. My understanding is that a comprehensive statement will be made at 4 p.m., which is important.

It will be made publicly such that students and everybody else can hear it. That is the intention of the Minister.

Of course, the Minister will make herself available to come to the House and answer questions. The Department has contracted Educational Testing Service, which is a US-based non-profit organisation that specialises in educational measurement to review the essential aspects of the coding that underpinned the calculated grades system. The results data are now being rerun through the corrected model. The Minister will give a more comprehensive statement this afternoon regarding all of the issues the Deputies have rais…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together. While there is no formal Cabinet committee dealing exclusively with security matters, I receive regular updates on the security situation and any relevant incidents and events. Ministers can also update the Government as necessary on security-related issues that arise in their areas of responsibility. In addition, the national security committee is concerned with ensuring the Government is advised of high level security issues and the responses to them. It is chair…

We would.

It will not happen.

As I said, there is no security committee of Cabinet in the first instance. The main focus of the questions as they evolved is around pay, recruitment and retention. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Defence are engaged in terms of what measures can be taken, in particular to assist the Naval Service in its situation without creating issues for the wider public service pay agreement and pay framework. There are certain aspects that both Ministers and both Departments have been enga…

That is the intention. I am making it clear that depends on the company, as it looks at it. I do not want to pre-empt its work but, obviously, it has to be done in a timely way. The point is that students will have to be given assurances in terms of places they already have. A lot of work will have to be done with the third level colleges, the universities and the CAO system to assist students in every possible way in order that they are not in any way disadvantaged as a result of the discovery of these errors. Pri…

There are two substantive issues contained within the question that the Deputy put. In the first instance, I want to say that I fully understand the anxiety and stress that many individual mortgage holders, many people with personal loans and many small and medium-sized enterprises feel in terms of the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on their capacity to repay loans and on the general economic situation. It has to be said that the payment breaks were invaluable to thousands of people in respect of those breaks over six …

It does need a wide review, not just of this specific issue, which needs to be dealt with, but also of the influence of foreign money on Irish politics. That is something that needs more rigorous inquiry in this country than has been the case to date. I have been through a number of referendums. That has been a concern for me and it continues to be a concern. It is also a concern that projects, organised by political parties but separate from them, seem to be funded by American money, with a political agenda but, o…