I hate to be proven right.

There were eight members of the Green Party elected in Dublin and this is a Dublin budget. It is an embarrassment to see the Government and the Cabinet going along with this. It is an absolute disgrace. As my colleagues have said, there is nothing in this budget for rural Ireland. What about the people on the front line who we depended on to get food into the shops? The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is taxing everyone and putting all of the funding into Dublin. This is a Dublin budget. Rural Ireland starts at the Re…

My concern relates to the flu vaccine, which was highlighted on the "Claire Byrne Live" programme on Monday night. One would think this was a way of promoting the flu vaccine but over the past week, my office has been inundated with questions about the flu vaccine and specifically quotas for doctors. Doctors are now only receiving their first quota of vaccine but they are inundated with requests from people who are very nervous about not getting the flu vaccine. I know there is a flu epidemic on top of a pandemic. …

I concur with all the other speakers. If one wants to have a proper debate, I question going late into the night with the debate when everyone is tired. The previous two sittings have been late. Members want a proper debate. The House should sit on Friday where everyone would have a night's sleep and we would have full discussions on this. Even with the way the structure is set out for debates at present, for the likes of the Rural Independents to get in, the structure is all wrong. The Government parties all want …

I am a business person. I have been self-employed all my life. If a business project is before me and I want to see its finances, I will look at its figures and discuss them. I had nothing in front of me at the Business Committee meeting this morning. Nothing was handed to me to allow me to make a decision on finances. I understand the Revised Estimate is for 2020. To run a business properly, one must have the figures. Deputies must be allowed to go through the figures to see everything is correct and to ask questi…

A report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, indicates that 0.0002% of all outbreaks occur in hotels and 72% occur in private homes. I spoke this evening to the president of the Irish Hotels Federation. It wishes to meet the Department of Health and the Department of tourism. It is seeking an overall plan and for the Minister to tell it what it is missing, if anything. I spoke to various hoteliers from a business point of view. I am in business myself. One hotelier told me that the money the hotel…

With Brexit, I have seen today at first hand what happens if we do not get the ports right. I drove home last night and drove up again this morning. Coming into Dublin I met a 5 km tailback of vehicles leaving. Some 50% or 60% of them were trucks trying to leave Dublin with materials. Three lanes were backed up for 5 km. What will happen to our hauliers if there is a hard Brexit? All hauliers have under eight hours' driving time. With the restrictions introduced at midnight, hauliers have been held up on the motorw…

I will start with a quote from President Michael D. Higgins: As a society we must come to recognise the arts are as important to our infrastructure as roads, hospitals and schools ... When we support the artists we support a viable democracy. I call for the PUP to be restored to €350 per week and the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, to €410 per week until the industry reopens without social distancing; a hardship fund created jointly by the Arts Council and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Prote…

I also offer my sympathies to Dr. Martin O'Donnell's wife, Veronica, to his daughters and sons and to Deputy Kieran O'Donnell. In 1968, Dr. Martin O'Donnell was one of the co-founders of St. Joseph's Foundation in Charleville. Today I heard many stories of him going from house to house looking for funding to open a place for people to go. The first place they went was the parochial house in Charleville. I have been involved with St. Joseph's for many years and I was one of the people who helped them get Liskennett …

I acknowledge the courage shown by the Social Democrats in bringing forward this motion on childhood poverty. I agree 100% with the motion in that child poverty is a criticism of the Government. What does poverty do to children? It takes away their childhood that they do not understand is missing. It can impair their education, health and well-being. Child poverty rates in Ireland doubled during the last recession. One in five children is currently at risk of poverty. Who knows what figures Covid will bring? Accord…

I have proposed this Topical Issue four times in the past three weeks. We have been trying to get the Minister of State's attention and to talk to him, but he has not acknowledged the Topical Issue or turned up to the Dáil to talk to us until today. I welcome his presence. At least he has attended today to listen to us. Before I start, I congratulate the Minister of State on his new portfolio and wish him and his family well. I will get down to business. People around Ireland, including Limerick, are being flooded …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I watched the works being done in Kilmallock and I offer my thanks to the fire service staff there and in all the other areas where there was flooding. A 4-tonne digger was dropped off Orr street, a driver operated it for five hours and then left the machine there for one week. A 4-tonne digger was also left on the Charleville Road for one week. There is only one driver and he is being pushed and pulled all over the place. We need year-round staff to do this work. In Abb…

I congratulate the Minister of State on her new position. We have all seen the statistics. Rural Ireland has been forgotten about. Not only have Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and Sinn Féin now learned this through Covid, but they are all roaring "Rural Ireland". Since the Government's formation, 83% of those Members have mentioned rural Ireland in their contributions. Before the Government's formation, no one mentioned rural Ireland except the Independents and one or two other parties in the Dáil. All Gov…

What will the Government do about the two people who are making 80% of these objections? What will it put in legislation to deal with serial objectors? What will be put in place? Have they an ulterior motive? If they do, what will be done about it? There are two people holding this industry to ransom and they are being accommodated by the Government.

Deputy Michael Collins has five minutes.

This motion is very opportune as we struggle towards the Brexit deadline. There is 7,500 km of coastline in Ireland. Ireland's total package of agreed fish quota for 2020 is 195,000 tonnes. This is worth an estimated €275 million to the Irish industry. The fishing industry supports 16,000 jobs including 9,000 directly and 7,000 indirectly. It was very interesting to note this week that Michel Barnier is very concerned about Ireland's position after Brexit. The EU's chief negotiator on Brexit said "Without a doubt, …

I welcome any system or Bill that makes the security of our country more robust and makes us compliant. The onset of cryptocurrency brings money laundering to a new level. Ireland must not be a tax haven for criminals and terrorists. If we do not get this type of updated legislation through the Dáil, Ireland's financial system will be used for money laundering and terrorist financing. We need to be mindful of certain circumstances. For example, funds were illegally taken from a customer's account in a prominent Iri…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this timely motion. The Garda has the power to make arrests for possession of unlicensed fireworks. Why does the Garda not take action? Is it that the Garda is under-resourced or are gardaí fearful of going into hostile communities? How do we control fireworks? How do we protect the older community? How do we protect our families, pets and farm animals? An organised effort is needed around Hallowe'en events. Perhaps a licence should be applied for. If gardaí know when an event…

We have a major crisis in providing buses to get our students to school. I have come into the House today because a view is being expressed outside this Chamber that needs to be said publicly. The public sees the Government running at less than 50%. At the start of this pandemic, I praised the Tánaiste and the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for all the work they were doing. I will compliment anyone who works hard for this country and I praised the Tánaiste and the Minister for that. After the election, Fi…

The public view at the moment is that we are going downhill at 100 mph while the Taoiseach is driving the bus. The public sees the Tánaiste as trying to make the bus skid and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, asleep in the back. That is what the public is looking at. I spoke already about spin and the rewards that were put out for Sinn Féin Deputies. Sinn Féin is only here to dissolve this Government. People are suffering and we need one voice to help the people in this country. Sinn Féin can spin all it likes but a…