On what is World Cancer Day, I extend my solidarity to Ms Lynsey Bennett and express my deep anger at what we saw yesterday - another woman and family failed by the State, another woman who was forced to go to the courts despite assurances that such would never happen again. It is a scandal. The Tánaiste gave a commitment to these women in 2018 and it is time that it was delivered upon. My thoughts are with Ms Bennett and her family today. D'fhógair an Rialtas inné nach mbeidh an vacsaín AstraZeneca á húsáid orthu …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Tánaiste for his answers. I ask him in his supplementary reply to address the other point I made to him, which was that in May 2018, when he was Taoiseach, he gave a commitment that no woman would be forced to go to court to seek compensation due to the failures associated with the CervicalCheck scandal. We know that promise has been broken time and time again and it needs to come to an end. No woman should be forced to go to court to seek justice and still not even have an apology from the…

When will we get clarity on this? Which group will be availing of the AstraZeneca vaccine, since it will not be given to those aged over 70?

I return to an issue I raised 11 months ago. In May, four small pubs launched a High Court action against one of the biggest players in the insurance industry, FBD Insurance. The judgment is to be handed down tomorrow. The case was taken over FBD's refusal to pay out on business interruption as a result of Covid-19 and thousands of businesses hold similar policies with FBD and, indeed, other insurers. Last month the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA, in Britain won a similar case in the Supreme Court taken on behalf…

That is shocking.

As mentioned by my colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, the motion pertains to capital carryover from one year to another and is required before the Minister can make an order for the spending of the carryover. In that regard, the motion and the order itself are essentially technical in nature as the decision on the amount of carryover by Vote has already been determined in the 2020 Appropriations Act, with the carryover allocations by Vote and subhead already set out in the Revised Estimates that were published in D…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. An tAire will recognise that my party and I worked constructively to address many of the gaps in the old temporary wage subsidy scheme, ensuring a higher rate of subsidy for low-paid workers and the inclusion of women returning from maternity leave. As he will know, I was critical of the new scheme that was introduced in September of last year on the grounds that it significantly cut the levels of wage support for workers. I warned the Minister at the time, and have consistently done so…

Mar gheall ar pholasaí Fhine Gael agus Fhianna Fáil, ní bheidh a dteach féin ag mórchuid oibrithe ar fud an Stáit. Oibríonn na daoine seo go dícheallach agus go crua. Chíonn siad ó thuairisc na seachtaine seo nach bhfuil toil pholaitiúil ag an Rialtas le luach na dtithe seo a ísliú. Tá an gnáthduine fágtha ar leataobh gan teach ar phraghas réasúnta le fáil acu. Tá an dóchas imithe ag na hoibrithe agus na teaghlaigh seo go mbeidh a dteach féin acu. Is ar an Rialtas atá an locht. This week, the Society of Chartered S…

Seriously, what planet is the Tánaiste living on? It is time for him to get his head out of the sand. The Tánaiste has been in government for ten years. The Tánaiste was Taoiseach for a period of that time, yet he tries to blame everybody else for this issue. That does not wash. The reality is that this is his housing crisis. It costs €439,000 to buy the cheapest apartment in Dublin city. Under his Governments over the past ten years, people are paying rents of up to €2,600 per month, yet the Tánaiste wants to blam…

What does Deputy Leo Varadkar do? He talks about introducing this scheme.

"Let us push house prices up further." Is that your policy Leo? Is it to push rents up further? That is what has happened-----

What is the Tánaiste going to do about it?

What about the prices?

That is not true.

What are you going on about? You created this problem. What are you going to do about it?

The failure to introduce a mandatory post-arrival hotel quarantine for international travellers arriving in the State has been well-flagged. It is a glaring omission in the Government's plan to contain the importation of cases of Covid-19 and is a decision which must be reversed. There is, however, another glaring omission, namely, the failure of the Government to act on the advice of NPHET and the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, with regard to ending discretion in the taking of a post-arrival PCR test by all internati…

On a point of order, the public health advice is to leave the Chamber as soon as a Deputy is finished. It is the health advice.

I wish to ask the Minister about the shared equity scheme. He frequently cites the British shared equity loan scheme, and I assume that his proposed scheme is similar to that introduced by the Tories. First, I am surprised that the Minister for Finance has given the green light to the scheme because it is a demand-side response to what is a supply-side problem, and that is patently obvious to anybody. As an economic policy, it is completely wrong-headed. Second, the scheme, if rolled out, could have an immediate im…

The question I asked was------

I asked the Minister five questions. I even numbered them for his benefit.