In the same way as it facilitated its own Bills, which it has rammed through, will the Government facilitate us on this critical issue to address the problem of homelessness?

Monday.

They do not have Private Members' time next week.

Which is run by the Government.

The people are losing faith in the ability of the Government to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. They have endured incredible hardship and they are facing a grim outlook for the foreseeable future. Despite all of the suffering and hardship they have endured, the situation, once again, is deteriorating. The message that we are all in this together, which underpinned the huge efforts that people made in the early stage of the pandemic, has been blown out the window by the Government. Day in and day out young people are…

I commend Deputy Gino Kenny on introducing the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020. He has put a great effort into it, as have all who have worked with him, some of whom have campaigned for many years to get to this point and ensure people have the right to make a decision on the end of their life and to have their life end with dignity in the way they choose. It is very disappointing that the Government has tabled an amendment. It is wholly unnecessary. It is very unfortunate that it has used the phrase "assisted suicide…

The programme for Government includes multiple commitments to sustaining rural life and to strengthening communities and yet, in the past week or so, postmasters have pointed out that An Post's network and many of our local post offices are on the brink of collapse because of a lack of Government support. In my area, two post offices are under threat as a result of the outsourcing model which means that the system depends on people being willing to take up the role of postmaster. There is no commitment to maintain …

Despite all the talk of us all being in this together, I put it to the Taoiseach that the Government is progressively abandoning many of the workers and sectors that have been most harshly hit by the public health measures it has put in place. By definition, the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, is given to people who have lost employment because of measures the Government has taken. They have done nothing wrong but they are being victimised with across-the-board cuts to their income. In the same week, the halt o…

The leaving certificate class of 2020 have suffered unacceptably because of a series of mess-ups. It is quite unconscionable that they are going to suffer yet again as a consequence of a gigantic and inexplicable cock-up. After all they have gone through and suffered, we now have this situation of uncertainty which could have very severe implications for those already in third level courses, those who may have missed out, and those who got the wrong grades. It is truly extraordinary. The Minister must come into thi…

Will the Minister come before the House?

She should come to the House to answer questions.

We bailed out the banks to an enormous extent. They have not repaid society for that bailout in any substantial way. In fact, they have persecuted many mortgage holders who were in arrears and dispossessed many from their homes. We cannot have a repeat of that. The mortgage break ending opens up the prospect of that happening again. I heard Government spokespeople on the radio earlier saying that the banks would deal with people individually and take their personal circumstances into account. We have heard that non…

The Government's policy is to rely on the goodwill of the banks to be humane towards borrowers in financial difficulty. That is pathetic. To call it naive would be a gross understatement. Remember what these banks did to borrowers who got in trouble as a result of the financial crash. They harassed and harangued them and put them through the wringer. People tried to engage with the banks. Banks would appear before the finance committee and say that they were being reasonable and were open to engagement, but in real…

-----and all sorts of other sectors who have lost income and employment because of Government measures. The Government needs to do more for them.

A big credit union.

Why not one big credit union?

That is what the Minister of State is doing now.

The Minister of State has got his headline now.

We will be opposing this Bill for a number of reasons. First, the manner in which this Bill is being pushed through is a disgrace. Even at this point, we are scrambling around and trying to get our heads around huge numbers of amendments, which will never be debated and discussed in any event. All of those amendments have been collapsed into the Second Stage debate and the legislation will be rammed through in a way that makes a mockery of legislative scrutiny and the democratic process. The fact the Green Party is…

As I stated, in Wallonia it is worth €4.5 billion. We are massively underperforming in terms of the employment and revenue we could generate if we had a good and sustainable forestry model instead of the monocultural industrial forestry model that may result in net deforestation. As the model is largely based on one species of tree, it is quite damaging to soil and water. As it makes our forests more prone to disease and so on, it is a fundamentally unsustainable industry. It may also be worth pointing out that thi…