I am sharing time with Deputies Barry and Paul Murphy. For months, I have been raising the plight of 22,000 taxi drivers whose livelihoods have been devastated by the Covid pandemic. Apart from a little bit of tea and sympathy, this and the previous Government have completely ignored and failed to provide support to them. The taxi drivers who took to the streets in unprecedented numbers a week ago will be protesting again on 9 October. This time it will be a day-long protest with taxi drivers coming from all parts …

We also asked about a debate on the new regulations. They are linked to the testing and tracing regime because if that was what it should be, we might not be in the situation of having to impose harsh new restrictions. The need for debate on this is doubly the case because the Business Committee also signed off on the schedule for the Covid committee. The CMO, NPHET, the HSE and the Minister for Health were supposed to come before the Covid committee, all to deal with precisely these matters. Now none of them is to…

It is very relevant. The restrictions being brought in are having a huge impact, yet there will be no discussion in the Dáil and now, even though it was scheduled, there will be no discussion of those matters in the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. It is unacceptable.

The point is that the sessions that were due to go ahead and that we agreed to go ahead with-----

-----were going to compensate, to some degree, for the lack of debate-----

-----on the regulations and the plans and the associated implications. Now, however, with a few hours' notice, we have been told that is not happening. We do not, therefore, get a debate in the Dáil and we do not get to scrutinise these incredibly important matters in the Covid-19 committee. I ask the Taoiseach to comment on the fact that part of the justification, incredibly, given by the Minister for Health is that he is not responsible for these new restrictions. That is an unbelievable statement from the Minist…

I brought the attention of the Dáil to this matter and it still does not answer the question as to why the Minister for Health could not come in. The issue is not about the winter planning, which is a separate matter. There was no specific item about them coming in to deal with the winter plan. This plan has now become the excuse not to discuss the restrictions. The Minister disowns the restrictions. I would like to know, incidentally, who is responsible for these new regulations, if it is not the Minister for Heal…

I do not believe the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is working in the front-line services.

The Taoiseach is threatening to unravel the sense of social solidarity that did exist and that underpins the compliance and cohesion we need to deal with Covid-19 because if people do not understand the logic and the rationale behind measures they will lose faith in the public health effort. The Taoiseach doubled down on that mistake by then cutting into the economic supports for people precisely at the time they need them most. In terms of co-operation with the Opposition, I will register again my frustration and …

I know, and I will keep making it because it is an insult and it seriously undermines accountability in that Ministers are not actually here to be held account by all of the party groups. It is a studied insult and contempt.

No.

It is not. Since I have made the same points on the other issues, I will not labour them. When I came in here this morning, I had no intention of calling a vote until I heard from the Chairman of the Covid committee that the Minister for Health, representatives of the HSE, the Chief Medical Officer and representatives of NPHET were not coming in. Our spokespeople were prepared for those sessions. They believed they were incredibly important because of the questions being asked. If the Taoiseach believes it is grand…

We must make clear to Boris Johnson that the peace and stability of this island comes ahead of his reckless, race-to-the-bottom agenda for Britain and for the particular business interests he represents. It is a recklessness that has again summoned up the spectre of a possible return to a hard border and breaks agreements, international treaties, protocols and so on that were designed to ensure there would be no possibility of a return to a hard border. We must make absolutely clear to Mr. Johnson and his gurus, su…

Unless the Taoiseach reinstates the eviction ban, he will be throwing thousands of renters to the wolves in the worst of all possible circumstances. We opposed the Government's decision to lift the eviction ban, which had been very successful, as we said it would be, in reducing the numbers going into homelessness. In removing that ban, the Taoiseach betrayed his previous support for the anti-evictions Bill my colleagues and I introduced in the last Dáil and, in so doing, performed one of the first U-turns of this …

The Taoiseach's decision to press ahead with the cuts to the PUP are a disgraceful and dangerous betrayal of thousands of working people who have lost jobs and incomes because of Government measures. The people who have been hit hardest by the pandemic are now being kicked while they are down. This is grossly unjust and a serious danger to the collective social solidarity that is absolutely critical to defeating Covid-19. If the Government loses the faith of the people and punishes those who have lost their jobs an…

Had it nothing to do with Deputy Lahart then?

As our representative on the Business Committee, I asked for this debate a number of weeks ago. It is telling about the coup d'état the new Government implemented to silence the smaller parties that having asked for the debate, we had to wait for three or four Government speakers who spoke during three different slots before some of us got to respond to the Government's position. It is an insult that the senior Minister is nowhere to be seen. The fact that the senior Minister has disappeared long before most of the…

I will be moving my amendment to the motion. I will be sharing time with Deputy Barry. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward its motion. I agree with everything in it and I hope Sinn Féin agrees with the additions I propose to make to it. These include a very specific step-down subsidy for taxi drivers to allow them to return to work without losing their pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, if they earn more than that payment. My additions also include grants to cover the ongoing costs of insurance, car loan repaym…

I am taking seven minutes and my colleague is taking three. The Government has ignored all of these issues and the sword of Damocles now hangs over taxi drivers because of the plan to cut the pandemic unemployment payment tomorrow. That will also affect other workers. I have just come from a demonstration of events workers. Some 22,000 taxi drivers and their families and 35,000 events workers, musicians, crew and so on will feel the axe fall upon them. Their incomes are going to be slashed on top of their already d…

Apologies if I missed it but which Cabinet committee or group, if any, is dealing with arts and culture? I would hate to think that this area has been overlooked, particularly given the really dire plight of performers, musicians, arts workers, crews and events people. The latter group are out protesting because, as with other groups, their incomes and livelihoods have been hammered by the current crisis. Very little support has been forthcoming, especially for the events sector. Are any of the Taoiseach's committe…