In my discussions with the First Minister and the deputy First Minister on the internal market Bill, my objective is to protect the interests of the citizens of this island in the context of the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Notwithstanding if somebody was pro-Brexit or pro-remain, everyone shares a pragmatic view that the least damage possible should be done to workers, employers, the economy and the social fabric of this island as a result of Brexit. The ultimate deal betw…

First, it has to be said that the measures taken and announced last Friday were necessary in the public health interest to save lives and to protect people. The vast majority of people accept the premise upon which those measures were taken and announced, on the advice of our public health doctors and NPHET. They are necessary to get the numbers down and stabilise the number of cases in Dublin in particular, which had risen too high in recent times. The same principle applies across the country. We need to get the …

We have.

The Deputy is wrong in what she has just said. It is not the first time that she has been wrong in her understanding of the law in that regard. Level 3 is nowhere near where it was. The point is that the legislation is robust and strong in that people affected by Covid will not face rent increases or evictions. That is what the legislation does. There is an extension of the provision right out until January. That is particularly important. I take the Deputy's point that €350 is not a considerable amount of money. O…

The Deputy has been one of the original enthusiasts for special advisers and always has been. She has been a long-term advocate of special advisers in politics. She has never shown any disdain for them to date, and her party has not either, so she should stop the hypocrisy on that issue.

Our objective is to support people.

It is true that Covid-19 and its impact will be with us for much longer than anticipated. We must also recall there are 213,000 people on jobseeker's payments right now and a range of others on social welfare payments and in various schemes who also need support. Therefore, there is a much broader picture here than is being painted by the Deputy. In the context of the budget and of planning right through 2021, there will be a significant impact on our budget and on the overall resources.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issues. As I said earlier, the changes to the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, last July were designed to give sustainability to it. It was originally designed as a 12-week scheme when it was rushed into the House and introduced as an emergency to underpin incomes. The new rates approximate closely to what people would have been earning prior to being rendered unemployed because of Covid-19. That is still the situation and the figures show that. In other words, people will be i…

As I said earlier, originally 600,000-odd people were on various pandemic-related schemes but that is now down to 200,000. Many people got back to work as the economy reopened during the summer. In addition, 213,000 people are on the basic jobseeker's allowance. A range of others are getting different social protection payments. One must be fair to all concerned as the horizon lengthens regarding the impact of Covid. We need to think beyond April because the financial impacts of Covid will stretch beyond April. Tha…

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I know his commitment to this issue, about which we have had a number of discussions. In terms of the broader issue of model 4 hospital funding, an ongoing assessment will be undertaken that will include the question of funding for Waterford and its needs and demands. I will revert to the Deputy in that regard. As the Deputy is aware, the programme for Government commits to the delivery of a second cath lab at University Hospital Waterford. The preferred option is a second cath…

I spoke to the HSE earlier and my understanding is that the UPMC Whitfield facility is being used by the hospital. I got that assurance an hour before I came into the Chamber. I will double-check on that, to make sure that facility is being used. The Deputy and I both know one has to be careful of full independent reviews in terms of their analysis and what they might bring to bear. In health people have their ways of looking at issues. We saw this in terms of cardiac services. I do not mean that in any facetious w…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. These are very important points. The Deputy said it took five days to get a test. That is not acceptable. I would like that checked out and the details followed through because it is not in accordance with the national average - that is not just waiting to get a test but right through - which is about 2.2 days. Some 85,000 tests were done last week and there is a capacity to do 100,000 tests. It is one of the better testing systems in Europe. Right now, we are testing more …

I thank the Deputy. I agree with her on the need to underpin and support principals in schools as they navigate and manage an unprecedented public health pandemic. It is to their credit, and to the credit of teachers, SNAs and all staff within a school, that they have worked extremely hard to make the reopening of schools, and their continued opening, possible. I salute and affirm the work they are doing in that regard. The Deputy is also correct that additional stresses and strains go with Covid, such as constantl…

Is the Deputy referring to the regulations or the testing and tracing strategy?

On Friday, everybody was supporting the regulations and the measures we were taking. That was the public stance of Sinn Féin and all the other parties.

As political parties and people were briefed on Friday evening, everybody was supportive of the very same regulations. They are akin to what is in level 3 of the plan, as everybody knows.

My suspicion is often that Sinn Féin wants to undermine regulations, not support them. That was the nature of Deputy Mac Lochlainn's presentation. He had a go at the testing and tracing system, which we debated again last week in the House. That is a robust system compared with other systems in Europe. To describe it as woeful, as the Opposition has on the Sinn Féin side, is desperately unfair to front-line workers who are doing exceptional work on testing and tracing across the country, and doing it well.

Relatively speaking, the testing and tracing capacity in this country is higher than most across Europe and we are constantly seeking to increase it. In the plan, there are significant and specific measures to increase that workforce to 3,000. It is well documented and detailed. Despite efforts to say there is nothing in the plan about testing and tracing, there is, and it is very comprehensive.

People want to debate everything every week and I do not mind.

If the House wants to meet on Friday, I am available to do that. I have no issue with debating the plan. We debated regulations two weeks ago to give additional powers to the Garda, which Deputy Mattie McGrath opposed, as he is entitled to do.