The point is that the Tánaiste did not, he provided it to his friend and political supporter Maitiú ÓTuathail. Does he see how Maitiú Ó Tuathail received a benefit, an advantage, as a result of having that confidential document? Now he is the person within the NAGP inner sanctum who has access to these documents, who has the kind of insider relationship that he can boast about, which the Tánaiste suggests he is exaggerating, but he is the guy who got the document from the Tánaiste so there is a question mark over t…

I did not ask that.

It means they may be re-elected potentially.

One might wonder why Deputy Varadkar does any politics or why he did as Taoiseach. Village magazine described the Tánaiste as a law breaker. Today, an article on its website says bluntly "he has committed a crime". The Tánaiste's statement in response accepted the core factual claim made in the article while simultaneously describing it as "grossly defamatory". Does the Tánaiste plan to sue Village magazine?

Is the Tánaiste going to sue Village magazine?

I think people can draw their own conclusions if the Tánaiste does not sue a magazine which has publicly and repeatedly described him as a lawbreaker and as having committed a crime. Does the Tánaiste believe, as he said in his statement on Saturday, that the Official Secrets Act does not apply to him?

The Official Secrets Act.

That is the Donald Trump defence, that a person is entitled to do what he or she likes because he or she is the Taoiseach. It's not just as simple as optics, perceptions do matter and when it comes to a contract of this size, importance and cost, it has to be seen to be all above board as well ... [He] left himself open to the perception of a conflict of interest, the perception that someone was given an inside track. These are the Tánaiste's words about Deputy Naughten. Does the Tánaiste accept that his actions ha…

Yes, unless Deputy Boyd Barrett comes back in, which I believe is unlikely. He sends his apologises. He had to go because of the change of the slots. The Government's plan is called Living with Covid. It would be better off renaming it the yo-yo strategy because that is the truth about what it offers to people with its plan. It offers a future of yo-yoing in and out of lockdown until a vaccine is found. It offers a year, two years or longer of going in and out of lockdown repeatedly. That is what its strategy is, a…

I am opposed to the extension of the sunset clause for this and for the other matter we are debating today. Fundamentally, the Government is attempting to compensate for its mess-ups, blunders and lack of a clear strategy in dealing with Covid by doubling down on repressive measures. That relates more to the second element of what we are discussing today, but the two elements are related. We have always been very consistent in being in favour of people following the public health guidelines. In fact, we have advoca…

Two and a half weeks ago, when the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, advised the Government to go to level 5, there were 31 outbreaks in nursing homes and there are now close to 200 such outbreaks. We are hearing a horrendous story about 26 of 28 residents in a nursing home having tested positive for Covid-19. There has only been one nurse and one carer available in the home for the past 72 hours as all other staff are Covid-positive. One person has died and another is very ill. This appears to be a rep…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to extend the ban on evictions and rent increases and for that purpose to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. At the start of this month as it became clear that we were facing a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and a second wave of restrictions, we drafted this Bill to restore the full ban on evictions and rent increases. Solidarity-People Before Profit submitted it three weeks ago. I am pleased to finally get a chance to introduce it in th…

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

I will be brief. As regards the comments the Ceann Comhairle made, it is very clearly the Government that is not listening or hearing. It would not have to have particularly good hearing to listen to the anger, upset and appeals to change course from survivors. The approach of the Government has been horrendous and heartless and is unfortunately reimposing an abuse upon people. I pay tribute to the incredible survivors for the campaigning that has been going on, which has made this a major political issue and put t…

More than two weeks ago, on 4 October, NPHET wrote to the Government outlining the deteriorating situation with the coronavirus. It called for level 5 measures across the country for four weeks. The Government rejected that advice. What is more, the Tánaiste went on RTÉ, channelled his inner Donald Trump and publicly trashed and undermined the public health advice. Two weeks ago, in the Chamber, I warned this approach would not avoid going to level 5 and that it would simply mean going to level 5 later and for long…

We have heard about the Thursday letter, level 3 and so on before. I will quote from the letter of 4 October. It states: "A graduated approach would, ultimately, result in application of Level 5 measures as mitigation." NPHET predicted precisely where we are. It is important, to learn lessons for the future, that the Government acknowledge that the advice to move to level 5, two and a bit weeks ago, was correct and that it made a serious mistake by refusing to follow it. I do not care what other parties in this Hou…

Both ways mean lockdown now-----

-----but the question is the future.

They could quarantine.

A childcare worker called "Today with Claire Byrne" after the budget was announced. She said that all those workers were asking was for a fund of €30 million to be put in place to bring the pay of the 60% of staff who were not earning the living wage up to €12.30 an hour and for a sick pay fund to be put in place. She also noted that the childcare sector was the only sector where staff do not wear personal protective equipment, PPE, and there is no social distancing. She said that if she gets sick, she will not get…