If the HSE has the role the Minister stated it does, why does the confusion persist? The email I originally received from the HSE stated it was looking into the matter, etc. I then received a considered response, which stated that it does not have any role in this area. To bring this to reality rather than making an abstract point, I refer to Keelings. I wrote to the Minister to draw her attention to an internal document, which makes it obvious that Keelings is operating on the basis of supposed family units of mor…

The HSE also stated that it has no role in the inspection of workplace health and safety. That is clear in its response.

I want to ask the Minister about the cost of the private hospitals. The Taoiseach confirmed to me two weeks ago an estimated cost of €115 million per month for the leasing of the private hospitals. I then later asked the Minister for Finance why we are paying more than four times as much per bed as they are in the UK, which he was not able to answer. I then wrote to the Minister for Finance, copying to the Minister for Health, seeking the publication of the final agreements with the individual hospitals, a detailed…

Directors' pay at Beacon in 2018 was almost €1 million. Are we paying the directors' pay? Are we paying the bloated pay of the CEO on top of that? These companies often officially claim to be making no profit but make intra-group transfers through transfer pricing, interest payments and fees to other companies owned by the same person. With that in mind, are we paying for any rents or interests to Mr. Denis O'Brien, Mr. Larry Goodman or any of their companies? Specifically, do the payments we are making include ren…

What happened during the other sections?

All of the questions ran over and I do not think anyone-----

I have three questions. I would like to pose a question, get an answer and so on. I raised earlier the issue of Keelings with the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, and she informed me that the HSA has the authority to go into any workplace and inspect it. Does the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine agree that the HSA should inspect the Keelings workplace?

I am asking for an inspection in order that we can find out. I have an internal document from the company - which I will not name again - which refers to family groups and hostel groups which, in my opinion, clearly indicates that social distancing guidelines are not being followed and that workers' health is being endangered. The document states that the accommodation units will be regarded as family units. It indicates that family units are of 50 people or more, with effectively no social distancing between those…

The evidence I have is a document from inside the company that I will not mention again and is not disputed by the company. The document indicates that 50 or more people are being considered part of a family unit and people can be moved from one family unit to another. A statement given to RTÉ indicated that people are sharing bedrooms and so on, which suggests to me that social distancing is not possible. I asked the Minister a question earlier and I did not get an answer, but I suspect the answer is zero. I asked…

I do not share the Minister's touching faith in the attitudes of these employers.

They are not driven primarily by the safety and the health of their workers; they are driven primarily by the maximisation of their profits and sometimes workers' health and safety can be sacrificed at the expense of that. That is the allegation made by some of these workers. My final question is about the future of agriculture. Small farmers are facing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis right now. When the crisis comes to an end, climate change is going to hit them hard. Are we going to continue with a model of a…

The Minister did not substantiate the claim that these people care about their workers.

I should-----

I was not-----

Does the Taoiseach agree with Dr. Jack Lambert that we have a national emergency in our nursing homes and that leaving individual private nursing homes to be responsible for staffing regimes, infection control and supply of PPE, as the HSE guidelines have done, was a "huge disaster"? Does the Taoiseach agree that it is part of a process of privatisation and of not having nursing homes as part of a national health service, and that the agency staff being underpaid and living in overcrowded accommodation while workin…

I will ask the question again-----

Does the Taoiseach agree with Dr. Lambert when he says that leaving individual private nursing homes with responsibility for staffing regimes, infection control and the supply of PPE, as the HSE guidelines have done, was a "huge disaster"? Does he agree with that or not?

I wish to move to the deal with the private hospitals. It is reported in a newspaper today that the estimated monthly cost of the leasing of private hospitals will be €115 million. Is that accurate? Again, I seek a simple Yes or No answer, not a kicking to touch that something will be published at some time. Is it accurate that €115 million will be given per month to private hospitals? If it is accurate, is there a profit margin built into that? In other words, are some people going to get rich off of dealing with …

The Taoiseach said on St. Patrick's Day that the bill will be enormous in terms of the immediate health costs as well as the economic consequences that flow from that. Obviously a key question is who will pay that bill. The attitude of the Government and what has happened so far does not make one particularly hopeful, particularly when one looks at the approval of the change by Revenue to the rules governing tax exiles so that they are not discommoded by the coronavirus crisis and are able to continue with their st…

I asked about Ernst & Young.