I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 25 together. In December 2019, the Government agreed the terms of reference for the commission on the future of Irish public service broadcasting, to be established by the Department of the Taoiseach. Professor Brian MacCraith, former president of Dublin City University, was appointed as chair of the commission. The programme for Government has expanded the remit of the commission on the future of Irish public service broadcasting to become the Future of Media Commission, whic…

I agree with much of what has been stated by the Deputies. I did not quite catch the final point made by Deputy Bruton. Is it the balance between traditional media and-----

When we say in "a platform-agnostic fashion", I think there is a view emerging that there has been a seismic change in terms of non-traditional media, such as those using online platforms. As Deputy Ó Ríordáin stated, that has impacted on the quality of life of journalists and the quality of the job itself. It is extraordinary that those currently working in journalism must marry so many different platforms and be on all of them almost simultaneously from morning to night. It is often the case that when one checks …

It is fundamentally wrong of the Deputy to attempt to make political capital out of a decision of the independent Low Pay Commission, which is not dictated to or influenced by the Government. In fact, the past five recommendations from the commission have been accepted by the Government. The Government supports low-paid workers. We have the fourth-highest minimum wage in European systems with a statutory minimum wage. Right now, it is an extraordinary political charge for the Deputy to make about the Government not…

The Deputy uses every situation to tell untruths, rather than the truth, about the reality out there. She is fundamentally wrong about the wage subsidy scheme. That scheme is about employers who employ people. The Deputy knows that there are various formulas designed to facilitate, for example, employers whose turnover has dropped to 70% of the previous year and so on. The Deputy deliberately distorts what has been an effective and unprecedented intervention in the labour market to protect employers, enterprises an…

It is open now for the first time to new entrants and seasonal workers. The Deputy knows that the Low Pay Commission is not the Government. It is an independent statutory body and the Deputy knows that, yet she came in here this morning trying to pretend that the Low Pay Commission is an arm of the Government. It is not. It is an independent body set up by this Oireachtas, including the Deputy. She makes political charges when it suits her and does not deal with reality.

That is not a point of order.

That is not a point of order. That is an abuse of the House.

I thank the Deputy for her questions and the points she has raised. I accept that a debate on public health should transcend party politics and politics in general. I said at the weekend that it is important to communicate in different ways on different platforms to different age cohorts, ethnic minorities and migrant workers. We worked on the issue of employment in meat plants and people in direct provision over the summer in terms of language, messaging and communication in respect of sick pay being available to …

I have absolutely no difficulty in accepting a cross-party approach to this issue. My understanding is that the Covid committee has met a lot of experts.

Let me finish, please. The Covid committee has met a lot of experts who have discussed herd immunity and elimination strategies. There has been a reasonable degree of public debate on this on the airwaves. I have watched infectious disease consultants with different perspectives, some of whom advocate elimination and others who advocate herd immunity.

There has been a public debate among the scientific community, the medical community and some politicians. All of my comments in response to the Deputy endeavour to be constructive. The Deputy referred to the three strategies, so it is reasonable to respond to them. If she is suggesting some new forum should be created in a non-contentious environment that would facilitate a calmer and more reasonable timeframe to explore these issues, it would be a good idea. One of the challenges we face is that many people who c…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. She indicated that the directive has not been finalised. There is still work to be done on the directive and I presume negotiations are still under way. I will talk to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. My understanding is that the Chairman of the agriculture committee intends to facilitate a discussion at the committee on this issue where inputs can be made by Deputy Nolan and other Deputies and Senators and the issue can be examined in greater detail, in p…

My understanding is that a stakeholders' forum has been established in regard to this issue and that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is engaging with that forum. It has met twice and I understand efforts will be made to come up with a compromise and resolution of this issue. I will take the Deputy's concerns to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and discuss them with him. I will ask him to engage with her. As the Chairman of the agriculture committee, Deputy Jackie Cahill, has said,…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. For the vast majority of people, giving birth is one of the most magical and beautiful moments that one can experience in life. For some, it can, as the Deputy has said, be very difficult and traumatic. In either situation, the presence of a partner is very valuable, important and, in ordinary times, essential. What has been happening in maternity wards in this situation is a reminder of how indiscriminate and devastating the pandemic has been in upending the norms of the …

I agree 100% with the Deputy that they should be uppermost. We have to acknowledge the risk managers in hospitals, those whose overarching objective is to protect people. We should accept the motivation of all involved which, I surmise, is genuine. Nobody is wilfully doing this. This goes against the very grain of what is natural and normal in such situations. We need to be fair here. We are politicians who bring back to the Chamber the concerns of the people we represent but we have to balance that with rushing in…

Funding will be allocated for the resumption of adult disability services in the winter initiative. There has been considerable investment in and allocation of resources to education for special needs assistants and support for the return of children with special needs to education and to schools across the board in September and, likewise, for the resumption of adult services. There have been constraints with regard to the degree to which those services have been restored. Not all of them were financial; some rela…

The Deputy will be aware that there have been issues in the manufacturing, delivery and shipment of the vaccine to Ireland. Some has arrived and is being distributed. More is on the way and by the end of this month, there should be significant additional supplies. It is beyond the control of Government and the State in terms of the issues that apply here.

Those measures were announced and they are still actively being pursued. In respect of the reduction in prescription charges for those over 70, that came through Cabinet in July. The Deputy can take it that there will be positive developments on those fronts.

If the Deputy could forward the details of the case to me, I will pursue it.