The question-----

What about the activity on 21 March?

Come on.

That is rubbish.

Come on.

I appreciate the Deputy giving way. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we have been monitoring proceedings from our offices, and a number of questions before No. 98 were not dealt with so I was not here in time. This question relates to the Minister's plans for a wider regulation amendment to the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. There has been discussion about section 22. Earlier today, the Minister brought forward a motion, without debate, which is unprecedented. Debates have occurred in the House about appointment…

This Act deals with the regulation of lobbying and the requirements for lobbyists. I am revisiting this issue again because the Minister forced through a vote that did not allow debate on the motion earlier. The Minister brought forward a name for the approval of the House - Ms Geraldine Feeney, with whom I served in the Seanad. Ms Feeney is also a lobbyist and she lobbied on behalf of the NAGP, the organisation that is in the middle of the controversy about the Tánaiste, and then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, leakin…

Perhaps the Minister would answer why he broke precedent and shut down debate, because there was not a debate. There was an objection-----

With respect-----

Let me articulate the question. This is about the register.

I am very familiar with this, and Deputy Mairéad Farrell and I have drafted legislation that is with the Bills Office for seven weeks.

I respect your view in regard to that, a Cheann Comhairle. This relates to the Regulation of Lobbying Act, which is policed, if one likes, by the Standards in Public Office Commission. I do not think it was ever envisaged that somebody who was a registered lobbyist up until three weeks ago would be appointed by these Houses as one of only two of the appointees to the Standards in Public Office Commission. The other four are automatic appointees. There is a serious breach here. The Government has run away from accou…

On 3 September during Leaders' Questions, I raised the findings of the review into the provision of gynaecology services in Letterkenny University Hospital with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The report was commissioned after a hard-fought battle by patients and by their families. These were patients who had suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment with devastating consequences for them and for their families. This included family members such as Dr. Margaret MacM…

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I appreciate he may not be fully up to speed with the independent review published in August and its recommendation that there should be a statewide review to ensure Letterkenny is not an outlier. Will the Tánaiste, as a GP, read that report because it is absolutely shocking? People lost their lives. The Tánaiste knows that endometrial cancer, if detected and treated in proper time, is not life-threatening or life-ending. In these cases, however, it is clear from the review, w…

The Government has belatedly approved filling the two vacancies on the six-member Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. The vacancies arose back in February. Sinn Féin welcomes this as it will allow the commission to do some of its work that it cannot do at the minute while the vacancies remain unfilled. One of the vacancies must be filled by a former Member of the Oireachtas. The Government has proposed the appointment of Geraldine Feeney, a former Fianna Fáil Senator with whom I served in the Seanad, to th…

Was the Tánaiste aware that she was a lobbyist for the NAGP?

This must be reviewed.

Motions 5 to 8, inclusive, provide for a year-on-year increase in carbon tax for the next decade. We know that this will have a disproportionately negative impact on workers and families on low incomes, lone parents and rural households. This Government plans to lock in these increases over the next decade, starting next year with a 39% increase in carbon tax. We know that the reality of this measure is that it will just make households poorer by making it more costly for them to heat their homes, cook their food a…

Tá ár dtír, mar atá a fhios againn ó thuaidh agus ó dheas, faoi bhagairt Covid-19 don chuid is mó den bhliain 2020. Cuireann an Bille seo atá os ár gcomhair inniu i gcuimhne dúinn go bhfuil bagairt eile ann. Is é sin an Breatimeacht agus nílimid réidh leis an mbagairt sin go fóill. Much of this time over recent weeks and months has been occupied by responding to the challenges the virus has posed to our health, the health services, jobs and the economy. The Bill before us is a reminder that other challenges loomed …

The issues at stake are very clear. Deputy Varadkar, as Taoiseach in 2019, gave a confidential draft document, a contract worth €210 million that was still under discussion with the IMO, to his friend, the president of a rival organisation, on his request. It was done not through official channels but through private text messages before deleting all traces of the correspondence. A friend of the Taoiseach requested a confidential Government document by text message and Leo delivered. End of. If a civil servant did …