Vote for the Bill then. If you do not want to change the Bill then vote for the Bill.

I agree with the previous speaker. There is a raft of housing legislation coming through the House and sometimes it can be very difficult for people watching to know how all of it will benefit them. I will not trade political arguments in the Chamber but will try to explain to people out there who need help, and cannot afford to buy or rent a home, what this Bill does. It is the first comprehensive affordable housing Bill the State has brought in. It will effectively take public land, build homes on it and make the…

This is the fifth Bill that has been introduced by the Government since it took office last summer to safeguard tenants during the pandemic. The Bill extends the protections to tenants affected by Covid-19 by a further six months until 12 January 2022. The number of people that have directly invoked this legal protection has remained small so far, but the legislation has also had a chilling effect on all landlords and, as a result, has protected tenants. The Government will continue to protect vulnerable tenants fo…

This year, there will be two important developments for the job club networks and local employment service networks across the country. One is that we will have an extension of the services to those areas that are not currently covered, which I welcome. We have strong local employment services in our area and we greatly value the contribution they make. I can imagine the gap they would leave if communities did not have them, so I welcome that development. We will also see the roll-out of a tender scheme for the res…

I have heard the Minister of State's contribution here and heard the Minister's yesterday. I welcome that she will meet with a number of Fianna Fáil backbench Deputies about this because we are greatly concerned about it. My local employment service, as with many across the country, issued a press release last week stating that the Government was implementing a for-profit model that would reduce community services. I hear the Minister of State and he is saying that that is not true and that, when the tender comes o…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide for a specific percentage of lands in a private development to be limited for purchase by first-time buyers and to provide for related matters. I was disappointed not to be able to avail of my scheduled spot during Questions on Promised Legislation. I remind Deputies that when they resist the efforts of the Ceann Comhairle, they deprive others of slots that have been allocated. The Bill was fi…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I welcome the national recovery plan announced yesterday and the massive supports we will continue to give regarding the employment of people through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. In February, almost 500,000 people were supported under the scheme. While there will be reductions in the pandemic unemployment payment from September, there will be no cliff edge for employees supported by the EWSS, as it will continue until the end of the year. I recall Opposition Deputies telling us in the Chamber last year…

Is the Minister of State satisfied that Ireland has the ability to prevent the occurrence of another cyberattack, given that Ireland is ranked 26th on the 2017 global cybersecurity index, GCI, and ranks mid-table in the EU in respect of its cybercrime vulnerability score?

I thank the Minister of State. It is an incredibly difficult time for all those in the HSE. They managed to continue to provide services during what can be only described as an unimaginably difficult 12 months and then faced the difficulties of the cyberattack. My heart goes out to everybody in the HSE who has had to deal with that situation. We are lucky. I pay tribute to the Minister of State in terms of his experience outside of politics. Having somebody in government who knows this area and brings expertise to …

I acknowledge the work that is being done. In particular, the review will be important because it will ask question whether the NCSC is fit for purpose and what we need to do to ensure it is. In many ways, the cyberattack gives the Minister of State the opportunity to engage with other Ministers on the need for investment in this area. I would support the Minister of State in that regard. The incidents over recent weeks demonstrate we must continue to invest in this area. We need to do it primarily because of the r…

As we have this debate on the digital green certificate, there are airport workers listening who have lost income or their jobs and who are seeking a roadmap forward. I hope that the Government will give them that roadmap on Friday. I worked in Dublin Airport and, as I said in this Chamber last September and again in January, morale there has never been as low. In managing the pandemic, the Government has neither been a zero-Covid zealot nor put the economy before public safety. It has treaded a sort of cautious an…

The findings of Mrs. Justice Keegan are harrowing to read and, I am sure, deeply painful for the family members, 50 years on. Mrs. Justice Keegan's words declare that those involved, members and loved ones of those families, were entirely innocent. This provides some justice to those who have spent decades seeking it. That the British Government has had it in its power to do this for decades and did nothing is truly shameful. The attempts to blacken the names of the relatives of these families in the aftermath were…

This is perhaps the first opportunity for the Minister to address in the House the comments made by Mr. O'Driscoll before the Oireachtas committee. One of the main reasons I persuaded many people within my party to vote for the programme for Government was that it was clear the commission would deal with the issue of pay and conditions. It appears, however, that Mr. O'Driscoll's comments were at variance with that. Will the Minister directly address that? While there is a range of issues in the area of the Defence …

I greatly welcome the Minister’s clarification that the commission will deal with pay structures and allowances. Allowances are at the heart of some of the key grievances that many of the Defence Forces personnel have. It was unfortunate that the comments were made in the Oireachtas that appeared to say the commission would not deal with HR issues. Members of the Defence Forces in my constituency will want to know what this means for them. We need to be clear, as a Government, in outlining the timeline for that. I …

As Covid forced many people in society to withdraw from our public spaces, unfortunately, levels of antisocial behaviour crept in. As we head into a period when, hopefully, things will begin to open again and we will make greater use of our outdoor spaces, I and many other Members of this House want to make sure that they are safe places to be. Unfortunately, over recent weeks and months, we have seen an increase in incidents and high-profile incidents, in particular, of antisocial behaviour. I want to be very care…

I welcome the Minister of State’s comprehensive response to the issue I raised. It is fair to say that while the numbers are lower, the visibility of those incidents is much greater. We must ask ourselves why they are more visible during Covid time. With less international and national news, the stories of these individuals are coming to the fore, but in many ways those stories were there during busier news cycles. Those incidents are being told in Covid times. It is really important that as life gets busier, we do…

As with previous speakers, I start by thanking the Union of Students in Ireland for bringing forward a solution in this area and campaigning on an issue which impacts USI members, as it does on many issues which impact students in Ireland. I also thank the Government for allowing this Bill to progress to pre-legislative scrutiny in order that we can examine some of the measures in it. There may be legal questions with some of its provisions but the joint committee will examine these. I also thank the Opposition for…

I have been a long-time champion of walk-in PCR testing, particularly in hot spot areas. We have seen a reduction in case numbers over the last few weeks. Has an analysis been done of the impact of the walk-in test centres in hot spot areas on overall numbers? Does any such analysis suggest a role for such test centres or for more widespread PCR testing as we continue to vaccinate people, as well as in the post-vaccination period? We know vaccination alone does not end Covid, much as we would like it to be the case…

I acknowledge the unprecedented level of support for the creation and support of employment, and that is because that is a core value of the programme for Government. It probably will not be fully understood, perhaps given the mechanism in which it is paid. Sometimes there is not transparency around how much support Government is giving. However, we have a problem. When Members supporting the Government and Members opposing the Government are indicating that people who are not rateable-based self-employed business …