In many ways, the Border is a man-made barrier to enterprise and economic development. A couple of years ago, I undertook the authoring of a report on the all-Ireland economy on behalf of the enterprise committee. It was the first report of its kind undertaken by the Oireachtas in this State since partition, which is incredible. I interviewed hundreds of people from all different backgrounds. Everybody I spoke to in the North of Ireland agreed that if we plan, fund and deliver services together, they will be better…

Tá Aontú go hiomlán in aghaidh an Bhille seo. Má chuirtear an Bille seo i bhfeidhm, beidh cead ag an Stát idirdhealú a dhéanamh, le haghaidh an chéad uair riamh, go dlíthiúil. Beidh an t-idirdhealú sin dírithe ar dhaoine óga, daoine le hailléirgí agus daoine atá faiteach mar gheall ar an vacsaín seo agus atá ag fanacht le níos mó taighde fadtéarmach a bheith ann. Impím ar an Rialtas stop a chur leis an mBille seo. The Irish Government has taken the most extreme path of any government in the European Union over the …

I welcome this Bill and commend the Minister of State on it. I also applaud the civil servants and the previous Ministers who completed some of the groundwork for this legislation. Maura Canning has also done enormous work on this issue. I have spoken previously on this legislation and I am aware that Sinn Féin tabled a motion yesterday on nursing homes. I will outline a number of concerns I have. Just a few hours ago, a document was released to me by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, which is signed by t…

This is a very important document that has been released into my hands today.

It is relevant to Report Stage of this Bill. I believe if the Minister of State does not contemplate-----

If the Ceann Comhairle will just give me one minute, I will complete my statement.

Go raibh maith agat. Did the Department of Health instruct the NTPF to put money in front of nursing homes and instruct them to make way for a large surge in hospital transfers? Was there a concerted effort by the Department and the HSE in March last year to clear hospitals of elderly people and put them into nursing homes?

It is very important.

This is the last opportunity-----

This is the last opportunity I will get to raise this very important issue.

It is very interesting that we are having this debate in regard to the hospitality industry when the fact is that most people who have died thus far from Covid in the State died in either a nursing home or a hospital, two settings that are either run, owned or managed by the Government. In the past hour, I gave the Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, a document showing that the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, put money in front of nursing homes and instructed them to take a large sur…

It is incredible to see the Government railroading legislation of this importance through the Dáil just before the summer recess, especially during a week when most of the country's attention is on the vaccine discrimination Bill. The LPT has the potential to increase the property tax for rural dwellers and those around the country who have been hit by the mica problem. There are a number of serious problems with this legislation. The use of the guillotine is deleting the Dáil's democratic oversight. It is wrong an…

We are delighted to be able to bring this motion to the floor of the Dáil because it is such an important motion. In many ways, rural Ireland has become a box-ticking exercise in the Dáil over the years. We have a situation with regard to rural and regional Ireland in that they are becoming increasingly peripheral to the development of this country. Ireland is developing into a city state. Dublin, in its size in proportion to the rest of the country, is an outlier in European terms. Even in Britain, London is consi…

Before Christmas, I held a meeting with the clinical director of CervicalCheck regarding the content of a letter she sent me. In this meeting, and in the letter, CervicalCheck criticised remarks I made in the Dáil on the scandal. I was criticised for suggesting that women had been wronged and for my use of words such as "mistakes" and "misreadings". CervicalCheck stated women had not been wronged; they had just been unfortunate. When probed at a meeting, CervicalCheck clarified its position was in contradiction of …

Over the weekend many pubs and restaurants desperately seeking to earn a few bob had their businesses washed out. We saw images of people trying to get shelter under awnings and umbrellas. Some pubs have been closed for 450 days. Today the Minister, Deputy Ryan, has said that hospitality may not reopen until possibly the end of August. This crisis has to be debated on the floor of this House. We cannot keep the democratic Parliament of this country away from the decisions that are being made on this critical issue.

Today, 24 people will lose their lives to cancer and 480 people will get cancer. In the past week, I have secured statistics from the HSE, which state that so far in 2021, the number of people referred from GPs to rapid access clinics for cancer is 153% of the figure for the same period last year. It is 126% of the same period in 2019, which is worrying. Consultants have stated that a tidal wave of advanced cancers will hit health services in the coming years as a result of the lack of timely diagnosis. The HSE has…

We have had dozens of debates in this Chamber on rents and house prices over the past seven years yet, despite the endless Bills and all the legislation, we have seen rents continue to spiral radically. Housing affects everything. There is no doubt in my mind that the lack of Government action over the past seven years especially has pushed many families into significant poverty. This poverty is all-encompassing, affecting all elements of people's lives and radically reducing the level of opportunity they have in t…

I will address a subject broached by my colleague about businesses that have fallen through the cracks. The circus sector has been left behind. It has been thrown from Billy to Jack, told to go to the Arts Council, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, which has sent it back to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Finance. It has achieved nothing so far. These organisations have functioned for maybe 150 years. It is one of the most successful p…

In fairness, this is related to small businesses, which are at the heart of this crisis and the target of much of what is in this Bill, if the truth be told. There has to be a solution brought forward. That solution has to follow what the likes of Denmark and Finland did in their countries. They looked at the science, made decisions and have opened up safely for more than two months now. Hospitality workers are a sector of society significantly targeted by this Bill. Hospitality workers are being massively stuffed.…

Gabhaim buíochas. I appreciate the forbearance of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the Rural Independent Group. One of the problems here is that Government Deputies are not taking their slots, which has pushed back the slots for Opposition Deputies. As a result, the timing is very hard to manage. Pensions should be sacrosanct in Irish society. Pensioners and people approaching pension age should have complete confidence in their pensions. Pensions are very important for a number of reasons. Typically, when people re…