Other issues have arisen.

Today, I received information that from last June to this February 2,600 people caught Covid in hospital settings in the State. Given that is roughly half the length of time of the illness the real figure is way higher than this. It is an incredible situation because hospitals should be the location of cure and protection but in reality for many people they were the place where they caught this deadly virus. I know many families who had loved ones who went into hospital for non-Covid reasons, caught the virus and d…

In the wake of the vandalism and illegal destruction by developers of the home of the revolutionary hero, The O'Rahilly, I submitted a question to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, asking whether an investigation had been carried out in relation to this destruction. I expected that the Minister responsible for heritage, having seen the level of destruction of that heritage, would have taken it upon himself to hold an investigation, particularly in light of the fact tha…

I want to focus on the issue of sexual violence. Figures I obtained recently show a shocking increase in the level of sexual violence in Ireland in recent years. While the figures were down marginally in 2020 because of Covid-19, between 2016 and 2019 there was a massive increase. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, recorded 2,520 sexual offences in 2016. That figure increased to 3,340 in 2019. There was a huge increase in the numbers of cases of rape, abuse of children under the age of 17 and sexual assaults. Ther…

-----including hearing confession, is deemed to be a criminal offence. Therefore, the Dáil has been bypassed as a matter of routine. That is wrong. I ask the Government to ensure that in developing restrictions, the law in general and the criminal law in the weeks to come, it desist from criminalising these two aspects of practice within Irish society. It is really important that we have a very clear system of criminal law. It is also important in terms of criminal justice that people understand exactly what is ill…

Maidir leis an gceist roimhe seo, tá súil agam go mbeidh an próiseas críochnaithe faoi mhí Mheán Fómhair ar aon nós. I wish to raise the issue of circuses. Circuses have been unfairly treated by the Department and the Arts Council. In practical terms, circuses have been singled out with regard to the lack of funding being given to them over the last year. As a result, many of them are in serious danger, will not get through this crisis and will have to fold up their tents. I ask the Minister why circuses have been …

With all due respect, that is an atrocious answer. Traditional circuses are not being funded. They are not getting any money from the Arts Council. I have put a dozen questions in to the Department. The Department has told me to go to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I have put questions in to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and it told me to go to the Arts Council. The Arts Council said it has no money for the likes of Duffy's Circus. It is an incredible situation that circuse…

The Minister has not clarified it.

The Minister's answer is ignoring the actual, physical, material experience of circuses now. That information may have been gleaned through the Department or the Arts Council but the circuses are not getting the money. The Arts Council confirmed this week that it is not providing traditional circuses here with meaningful funding to counteract the devastation caused by Covid. Whatever the Minister is being told in her Department or the Arts Council, these circuses are not getting it. I ask the Minister to please mee…

That was not-----

Not as part of Covid supports.

Last week the Minister flew a kite about 30 year old people being vaccinated. I was shocked because I had just been on the phone to a family of a 92 year old who still had not had her first vaccination. I submitted a parliamentary question asking if all 85 year olds who wanted vaccines were fully vaccinated but did not get confirmation of same. When will those who are over 85 who seek vaccination receive their first dose and when will they be fully inoculated? I also submitted a parliamentary question on a claim th…

Today is 21 April and the Dáil has sat for two full days in the month of April. That is outrageous. The Dáil is sitting two days a week now which means that for the whole of 2021, we have only two days a week to represent our constituents. In the middle of an economic, health and societal crisis, we have a part-time Dáil. That is no longer good enough. It is time that the Dáil returned to sitting three days a week so that we can fully hold the Taoiseach and Ministers to account and bring Private Members' Bills to t…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for parking free of charge for persons attending outpatient services in public hospitals; and to provide for related matters. I thank Deputy Berry for co-signing the Bill. Since 2012, hospital car parks have taken more than €100 million from patients, through either parking charges or clamping fees. This money has, obviously, come from the pockets of patients, who can least afford it. What is often forgotten, when people think of illnesses…

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

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are looking to build 409 pylons throughout Meath, Cavan and Monaghan, and then on into Armagh and Tyrone. They will be up to 51 m high and carry 400,000 volts, in some cases only 13 m from people's homes. In the communities along the curtilage of this interconnector there is widespread fear and opposition with concerns over health and the costs to homes, businesses and farms in those communities. Aontú has prepared a Bill seeking a proper analysis of the true cost of overgrounding which we…

On Easter Monday a gun and 200 rounds of ammunition were found in a house a little outside Moy on the Armagh-Tyrone border. The gun is thought to have been used by the Glenanne gang in the murder of nationalists in the area. It was found a mile from the house of an Aontú Mid Ulster Councillor, Denise Mullen, whose father was murdered by the Glenanne gang in front of her when she was four years old. The gun was handed into the PSNI station in Armagh. Some days later, the community followed up with people in the PSNI…

This issue is of such import that 100 minutes is absolutely not satisfactory. It goes to the heart of what is happening in the HSE day in and day out, where the HSE is in combat with patients and the only way people can get justice is through the court system. It also goes to the heart of ministerial responsibility. We need to know what former Ministers with responsibility for health knew about this. How can something like this happen without Ministers knowing about it? Last week, the Minister for Justice, Deputy M…

Yes.

It is not outrageous.