I appreciate the Tánaiste and the Minister of State's presence and their opening addresses. I was glad to hear the references, particularly from the Minister of State, to the businesses which, through this pandemic, have felt left behind compared to other businesses. That is dominating the representations to my office from the sectors which have not been able to access the restart grant because it was for rate payers. They have not been able to access Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, and now the Covid-19 bu…

I thank Deputy O'Connor for being so generous with the time shared. I am not sure if Deputy O'Donoghue is still in the Chamber but I was taken by his remarks on water going from the Shannon region to the Dublin region. I am sure he will look for a similar level of gratitude for local property tax going from my home area to regions across the country. We have balance in this country and it is extremely important to acknowledge that. It is extremely important to acknowledge the balance provided in this legislation, w…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House for this debate. I welcome his announcement that there is to be a review of the vaccination schedule for chronically ill people such as the 1,400 sufferers of cystic fibrosis and those requiring kidney treatment, whether dialysis or otherwise. I ask that he expand on his answer about when that review might be completed. We need to provide some element of hope and succour to the very many patients around the country, and their families, who are very worried and have been …

I ask the Minister to provide a written reply to these interventions that will allow myself and my near colleague and dear friend, Deputy Devlin, the opportunity to make our contributions. To be specific, these are transport questions in regard to dealing with Covid-19. Understandably, many Members have spoken about air travel but we all know that it is community transmission which is of most concern. The areas I want to touch on are the use of public transport, first and foremost, and the fact that, particularly o…

As the Minister knows, I have quite an expressed interest in this area, not only as a parent of preschool children but also as someone who is married to a Montessori teacher. In advance of this session I received dozens of questions, which I will submit to the Minister in writing, and I thank him for already answering some of them when questioned by other Deputies. With the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence, I am going to ask a series of short questions and hopefully I will be able to leave about a minute for the Minist…

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the motion the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, has introduced this afternoon. It is technical, as others have said, but it is also vitally important. We all know that, at the heart of it, this is not a contentious motion. It is necessary. It gives us an opportunity to raise particular issues but I expect, and hope to see, the support of the entire House for this sensible measure. I will pick up on a few of the comments Deputy Nash made. This motion shows…

I wish to delve into one element with three questions momentarily. Before that, many Members have mentioned various categories in society and their places on the list. I do not take issue with that, but I ask the Minister to provide clarity on one niche area, which is Irish citizens based abroad who are in the service of the State and when they might expect to receive the vaccine. I refer to members of the Defence Forces who are on peacekeeping missions and our diplomatic corps. A number of foreign diplomats who ar…

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on this legislation, which I fundamentally believe is important although it will not necessarily get a high level of mainstream coverage. It is important, as we work to transpose the protection of the union's financial interests, PIF, directive into domestic legislation, that we look at the opportunities presented and, more importantly, the responsibilities of the State and agencies of the State in enforcing this directive. It is in our interests…

I am sharing time with Deputy O'Connor. I thank the Minister very much for this session. There is much to discuss. I am deliberately not going to repeat points other Deputies have made because the Minister has addressed them or can address them later. I want to build on some of the statements made by Deputy Verona Murphy, with whom I spent a great deal of time in the Brexit trenches over the past few years. The issue I would like to raise first with the Minister concerns replacement and the opportunities provided t…

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to raise this extremely serious issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte and the Minister. When reports came out that Leave.EU had relocated or temporarily registered its location from Bristol to Waterford many people met the news with a sense of wry irony that an organisation that has spent the past number of years campaigning to leave the EU is seeking to remain within the EU in order to retain its favourable Internet rating and its brand. Let us be under no illusion,…

I thank the Minister of State for the full and accurate reply, which certainly addressed some of my concerns. I appreciate that some of my concerns and the area I ask about do not fall under the remit of the Minister to whom this matter has been put forward. Some interesting points that will become very relevant in this regard have been made by the Minister on the role of corporate donations, of donation limits, of foreign donations and of influence outside the State on our electoral politics. I want to make sure t…

Before I dive into Brexit preparedness, I am aware that this is the last chance I have to address the Dáil before the break. I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, personally for your courtesy, the Oireachtas staff and, particularly, the staff of the convention centre who have been so hospitable in what are extremely trying circumstances and to wish everyone the best for the coming season. One area, not necessarily at the microlevel but at the political level, which deserves sincere attention is the future of the Anglo-I…

I am delighted to have the opportunity once again to contribute to post-European Council statements. I appreciate the Taoiseach's full debriefing and look forward to the Minister of State's concluding remarks. I will touch on a couple of matters that have already been raised by other Deputies in this debate, and I was fortunate to have the time to sit in for a little longer than usual. Before speaking to any other matter, I note the most important result of this European Council meeting is the final agreement on th…

I deeply appreciate the opportunity to come in with a few questions. I return to the point I made in my earlier remarks about keeping the Houses apprised of any developments, deal or no deal in the coming days when it comes to future relationship negotiations between the EU and the UK. How will that be communicated, bearing in mind that we rise for the Christmas late tomorrow night? Of course, we hope we will be learning details of a deal in due course. We understand it is very much in the balance and we should not…

I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue and I am very grateful to the Minster of State for taking this debate, which is extremely important for so many residents in the Dundrum area. Pretty much everyone in the Chamber will be familiar with the area and may think of it as a shopping destination, but those who know the city and county a little longer will know that it is very much an established community with an extremely large population. Not only is it large, it is set to increase by 44% by 2040, with the d…

I thank the Minister of State for that very full and welcome response. I fully appreciate the initial response from his Department under call 1 and very much welcome consideration under call 2. It is important to stress how vital this funding is. Dundrum is not a small town, it is a very large town with a population of tens of thousands. Most people might associate it with a gleaming shopping centre which is wonderfully maintained by a very dedicated staff, but it is home to many. For two decades, there has been an…

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I raise this issue, as Deputy Boyd Barrett has, in order to look at a couple of areas. The end of a period of restrictions is, supposedly, approaching in Northern Ireland and most of us in this jurisdiction have been enjoying in the past week or so being back at level 3 restrictions. We hope to stay there or go down to level 2 or 1 in due course. It should be noted that the restrictions are still sterner and the impact of the virus is much more worrying in Northern Ireland. W…

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of this motion and, indeed, in support of this concept. For everyone in Ireland, 2020 has been an unprecedented year. After years of preparing our businesses and the economy for the threat of Brexit, we also faced a new challenge in Covid-19 and the economic ramifications that followed. These twin threats have had an immense impact on every aspect of all our lives - our businesses, our finances, our mental health and our families. When the Covid crisis hit Ireland, i…

I do not want to repeat anything Deputy Calleary said. Needless to say I agree with all of it but it is important that I declare an interest, not only as the father of two young children, including one currently in an ECCE scheme, but also as someone who is married to a Montessori teacher. It is not an underestimation to say that during the general election last February, which seems like ancient history now, this was the No. 1 issue in my constituency. I imagine the demographics in the Minister's constituency are …

I thank Deputy Calleary for giving way. The Minister talks about the three key areas and I agree with everything he says. We need to look at the geographic constraints, with the costs in certain parts of the country, the requirements such as where a child cannot be put in for a half day, it has to be a full day, or quite simply the place is not there. The waiting lists for childcare in my constituency are through the roof. It is extremely worrying. It is not just putting a burden on the families and the parents, bu…