That is not what is stated in the programme for Government.

The green list directly contradicts the public health advice.

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. I think the references to the frugal four or five, or even the stingy four or five, are too kind. These people are the hawks of austerity and neoliberalism. The fact that these hawks of neoliberalism and austerity have won a significant battle is indicated by the EU4Health budget, which was initially projected as being more than €9 billion, while after the negotiations concluded, it had been reduced to just over €1 billion. This EU4Health project was supposed to be the big…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — over 1,400 workers in Debenhams Ireland faced mass lay-offs when the United Kingdom parent company announced it would no longer support the Irish subsidiary in April of this year; — the company has not negotiated with the workers’ representatives since and that liquidators have been appointed; — the workers have a collective agreement with Debenhams that guarantees an enhanced redundancy payment package of two weeks statutory plus two weeks; — initially workers were informed…

The Government and Deputy Lahart tried to muddy the waters and to deflect to absolve themselves of responsibility for giving a direct answer to the questions that this motion asks of them and to cover the fact that they have deleted our entire motion and replaced it with vague promises of reviews, no tangible commitments and, essentially, a recapitulation of existing legislation, which implies there really is no problem at all. There is a big problem. Deputy Lahart should note the motion does not ask for a socialis…

I want to challenge the Taoiseach's assertion that he is on top of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. His Government has already lost its way in dealing with Covid-19 and if things do not change we are facing a very serious situation and the likelihood of a second wave and we will not be in a position to prevent that becoming a very significant problem if not a disaster. As well as the obvious need to state simply that non-essential travel into this country will not be allowed and that people will be checked on the …

I am talking about checks.

Actual checks are essential.

Words are simply not matched with deeds. The major source of infection in the context of Covid-19 is now among healthcare workers. After all that we went through, healthcare workers are getting the virus. Siobhán Murphy described what they are having to deal with. They are working 12-hour shifts and are not getting adequate breaks. Health facilities are chronically understaffed, which means that there are not people available to take over and reduce the number of hours that others are working. Even when people are …

The Government is cutting their payment.

The nurses-----

The Taoiseach mentioned the discussions in Europe about the need for a stimulus and the package that has just been agreed. I referred to something earlier which I find quite shocking. It beggars belief, to be honest. The EU4Health programme was a €9.4 billion programme to create strategic medical stockpiles and a pan-EU medical response force, strengthen public health systems, improve warning systems for epidemics and generally boost and increase healthcare capacity in response to Covid-19. One of the outcomes of t…

The frugal four, or is it five now, should be more aptly described as the austerity hawks. "Frugal four" is just too nice for the attitude these people seem to be taking. I am absolutely stunned that one of the victims of this negotiation should be an eightfold reduction in a health scheme to respond to Covid. The EU4Health programme and the details of it are set out on the EU's website. It tells us that there is this fantastic programme which is about recognising the lessons of Covid-19 and responding at every lev…

On one level, the programme for Government contains everything. It is motherhood and apple pie. Some of us have criticised it because, when one looks at the detail, it is vague and aspirational and does not make tangible commitments in the key areas in which people demanded change at the general election. That is where my question is focused. For example, the section entitled "An Age-Friendly Ireland" sounds great and appears broadly nice, but it is totally aspirational. We need to look at what is actually happenin…

If there is time, would the Taoiseach come back on my question?

I will give him a bit.

My point, arising from what happened with Covid-19 in the nursing homes sector and from the Caritas and St. Mary's situation, is that we have a completely fragmented nursing home care sector. Some of it is good and some of it is not so good, but we are in control of hardly any of it. The nuns in this case seem to have turned into property magnates and to have lost any interest in the workers or the residents in the nursing homes. They just decided to close it down because it is valuable land and they can flog it, a…

They should not control the health service.

People Before Profit fully supports the objective of the Bill, which is to try to protect and support employment in the SME sector. We are fully aware that small businesses are responsible for more than 1 million jobs. It is absolutely right that the Government takes the necessary measures to protect and sustain the jobs in that sector. While supporting the objective, we have a number of concerns about the approach being taken in the Bill and in the part it plays in the overall July stimulus measures, which we unde…

The temporary ban on evictions is due to expire on Monday. There have been indications that the Government intends to extend it, but I would like to have confirmation that it will. Many tenants are very anxious. Given the direction of the virus at present, the idea that people would be evicted into homelessness and faced with the current pandemic is totally unthinkable from a public health point of view, not to mind a moral point of view. I know a group of tenants in my constituency who are facing a fourth eviction…