She should come into the House before this ends tonight to clarify her position as to whether she did or not.

The same as Deputy Kelly's.

Following on from other Deputies, I also ask the Taoiseach to look into this matter. This is a huge issue for many GAA clubs which have over 1,000 members but can only give their supporters 40 tickets. I ask the Taoiseach to approach NPHET about this. I acknowledge that we need to have the correct medical advice and people right across the country recognise that as well. However, I ask him to speak to NPHET and the acting Chief Medical Officer, CMO, to bring some clarity to this issue. Most club games are currently…

I welcome this opportunity to update Deputies on the response of the defence sector to Covid-19. At the outset, I express my deepest condolences to all who have lost loved ones during this pandemic and I wish a full recovery to all those fighting the coronavirus. I will outline the contribution made by the defence sector as part of the overall response of the State to this terrible disease. The collective response of the defence organisation involves personnel of the Permanent Defence Force, members of the Reserve,…

Deputy Chambers referred to the UNIFIL mission. As he knows, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, cancelled all rotations of all of our UN missions. This was always going to cause some distress to members of the Defence Forces and their families. My Department, the Defence Forces and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade got working to see if we could get our members home earlier than the end of June. I am glad to report that they will be home. We have secured two dates. I…

I ask Deputy McAuliffe to write to me about Mr. Halpin and I will follow up on that case for him. I know Deputy Troy was in contact with my office about the rotations and we kept him up-to-date with any information we had on same. I was clear from the start that I did not want any misinformation going out. I said that when we had clarity on the dates of return of personnel from UNIFIL we would tell them the exact dates and that is what we did. Of course there was misinformation out there because, as I said to Deput…

I will not be able to reach them all.

In my tenure, I have been able to deliver a package of measures worth more than €20 million in increases in Defence Forces pay through the independent pay commission, public sector pay increases, increases in new entrants' pay and outstanding adjudications. There have been increases under various headings. I do not have time to go through the pay of all of the different ranks in the Defence Forces. I would like to, but I am unable to do so. Deputy Ó Snodaigh raised the UN's decision to suspend all rotations. My Dep…

Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to the plane in which we invested. That was an additional plane; it was not one of the those for which we had planned for last year. It is additional and we decided to invest in it in March.

As Deputy Peter Burke is very much aware, Columb Barracks, which closed in 2012, is now longer required by the Department of Defence for military purposes. In establishing the Land Development Agency, LDA, at the time, the Government recognised the potential of this site for development as part of meeting housing demand. The LDA has confirmed that Columb Barracks is a key site that is suitable for its development requirements. To this end, the Department is in discussions with the LDA to formally transfer ownership…

Members coming back from Lebanon have the option of quarantining in their own home or in barracks. Personnel deploying to UNIFIL in Lebanon will go into quarantine together two weeks from departure. I understand arrangements are in place and the chief medical officer of the Defence Forces is very much involved in preparing the quarantine of personnel going to UNIFIL. My Department is looking at a full range of financial issues affecting members of the Defence Forces regarding allowances and there is full engagement…

There are discussions between PDFORRA and ICTU. This was a recommendation from the recently published C&A scheme, which I recommended at the time. The new C&A scheme is up and running with an independent chair. When the report came out there was a recommendation that the Department would get into discussion with ICTU and discussions are ongoing.

Can I get back to the Deputy with the exact state of play on that? My understanding is - I can be corrected on this - there is discussion between PDFORRA and ICTU at this time. However, I do not want to say that is the exact state of play, but I will get back to the Deputy with an absolute, full and frank reply on the issue. There is absolutely no delay on my behalf. These discussions are ongoing. The Deputy can understand this is a very sensitive matter. He can be reassured that I will come back to him with a full…

Probably, it will not be a decision for this Government, but it will have to be an issue for the new Government. This is a big decision to be made. I do not believe a caretaker Government should be making a decision of this magnitude. The next Government should make this decision. The Deputy can be reassured that if I had been able to get a decision on this one way or the other, I would have done so. A huge amount of work is ongoing and has been done between my Department, PDFORRA and ICTU. Management were kept awa…

A number of claims have been received by my Department regarding people who might have been on leave and who were not able to get back. Those claims have been received from various individuals in varying cases. They state that as a consequence of the travel restrictions on movements back and forth to combat the spread of Covid-19, and specifically UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix's announcement that there would be no rotations until after 30 June, these people were denied the opportunity to return to …

I am very sympathetic to the financial issues raised by Deputy Sherlock. I wish it was as simple as me writing a cheque, but it is not. The paymaster is the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as the Deputy is very well aware given that he served in and understands the workings of government. Any financial issues have to go through the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. If he has an opportunity to talk to the Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform he can have a friendly word i…

I wish I had the chequebook. I will revert to the Deputy on Kilworth. I know any returning personnel from overseas are given an opportunity to quarantine in a number of barracks. Kilworth is available to the HSE. Thankfully given that the spread of Covid-19 has slowed somewhat I am not sure what the HSE's plans for Kilworth are, but I can get the Deputy a full reply.

The Chief of Staff has been tasked with coming up with some options or a discussion paper on this. If we are going to buy such an aircraft we have to ensure that, given that it will be funded by the taxpayers, it will not be used for only 100 days a year. We need to ensure there is dual use of this. We need to bring other areas into the discussion as well as the Defence Forces. As I have said previously in my tenure in the Department, we have never previously not had the availability of aircraft to bring members ho…

I met the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General of my Department yesterday. Because of the restrictions on rotations, we had planned on sending three officers to replace the officers who were out there, but that rotation will not take place until after 30 June. The Chief of Staff is in discussions with the head of the mission in MONUSCO and we will be rotating. I have asked the Chief of Staff to give me a full security and medical assessment to ensure the safety of the personnel going out there. At the moment it…

That decision will be made when I get the reassurances that I have asked the Chief of Staff for. I want to make sure that the safety of all personnel in any of our mission areas is paramount. I am not sure when I will get that from the Chief of Staff, but as soon as I get that we will make a decision on it.