I thank the Minister for attending the House. This Government has talked the talk but it has not walked the walk. People talk about historical things that happened in the recent election. All the Independent Deputies were elected from outside of Dublin. Why? Because people on the ground in rural Ireland said they were not being listened to. We are the best country in the world for protecting and respecting other people's cultures, except when it comes to our own and especially when it comes to the farming sector. I…

I ask the Minister to give information to the providers of July provision. Yesterday I spoke to a representative of a school that takes in 90 children for July provision. At this stage the school should be organising transport for the children, SNAs, teachers, physiotherapists and nurses. School authorities should not be worrying about the conditions of the scheme and whether it will go ahead but this information is not available to them. The July provision is 20 days of fun and music for children with complex need…

Ireland is lagging behind in any meaningful engagement with farmers and producers in developing biomethane, which could be used for fuel for heavy goods vehicles as an alternative to fossil fuels. There are easy ways to help the process of anaerobic digestion, which is common in Germany, Denmark and the UK. The process mixes slurry with maize and silage, leaving the materials to ferment and form methane gas that can be stored. Sections of the country have finishing units where animals are housed and waste can be ac…

I could stay here for an hour with the Minister of State. I have been listening to the whole Chamber and the one thing no one has brought up is infrastructure. The Government has failed rural Ireland with infrastructure. I will start with the area where I was elected first, the Adare-Rathkeale district. On a promise from Government, they are waiting 30 years for a storage plant in Askeaton. No more houses can be built there because there is no infrastructure and no commitment, including from the current Government,…

I mean the county.

A survey undertaken by NUI Galway regarding Covid-19 found that 83% of people want to work remotely. One in five identified connectivity as an issue. The previous Government had nine Ministers in Dublin. How does it expect the rest of the country to deal with emissions when it has not dealt with them in Dublin? Dublin commuters spend 246 hours in traffic each year. That is higher than is the case in Paris, Rome and London. The Government has not started at home, but it will start it. It blames the farmers for emiss…

They are just discussions.

I will allow time for him to do that. When this pandemic payment was paid, it was welcomed by many people. I said to the Minister, prior to its launch, that the scheme would have been fairer if people had been paid relative to the wages they were earning at the time. Some people were working part time and earning €100 a week while going to school and finishing their leaving certificate year or going to college and ended up earning €350 a week from the pandemic payment. I suggest that on the application form for the…

I have another question for the Minister. Is it legal for companies to have contacted their workers and told them that they were going to pay them themselves? I have had a couple of phone calls from people who were working part-time. They were earning approximately €100 a week through college to earn extra money for college and their companies would not release them for the Covid payment but indicated they would pay them themselves. Do those companies receive the sum of €350 for such employees because the employees…

I am from a construction and farming background. Some people who want to return to work in the construction industry cannot do so because of issues with the Safe Pass scheme. For anybody who does not know, construction workers must have a Safe Pass card, which requires doing a one-day course where they sit down in front of an instructor who teaches them about different safety measures. At the end of it, they do a small examination which involves answering roughly 20 questions. It is a tick-box exercise for people i…

Many people who are 65 years old have jobs whose job description requires them to retire at that age. The new contracts people sign now refer to 66 years. If one is 65 years of age and has worked all one's life, one has reached retirement age. However, some people do not receive their pension until they are 66 years old. They have to sign for jobseeker's payment at 65 years of age. I do not believe that is right. Those who have worked the full number of years and who have to retire from their jobs at 65 are being b…

I have praised the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for the way in which they have dealt with the pandemic, mainly because of the former's medical background. We are lucky we have a person from a medical background in that position. For the past nine years, however, the Government has forgotten about rural Ireland. When the pandemic hit, rural Ireland did not forget about us. It kept food and drink on our tables and has kept us going through the pandemic. Yesterday has gone, today is here and t…

When will the Minister employ a pain consultant for children with chronic pain? We have a family in Limerick where one of the parents and two of the children were diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Patches for pain alone cost €130 for one child and this is not covered under the medical card scheme. These children are in chronic pain. The pain gets so bad that the child falls unconscious. Some 16 times in the last eight months there has been an ambulance transfer to the accident and emergency department. With no…

A company in west Limerick has made great inroads into producing a complete process for temperature monitoring of staff. This company operates to ISO and ICE standards and Food and Drug Administration, FDA, guidelines. It has tested the process in many situations and it is now at the highest standard. The issue for the company is that it is competing with other companies that have brought in equipment from countries such as China. These do not have the same approval as Irish companies and using their methods does n…

Some taxis are open for business with health guidelines and for multiple passengers. Driving instructors and testers would have a maximum of eight people in their vehicle daily. There needs to be some easing of restrictions in this regard. One solution could be for instructors to use only their own cars, which are Road Safety Authority, RSA, compliant, and for regulations to be put in place that all instructors abide by the hygiene standards laid down by the RSA. Many instructors' cars have antibacterial seat cover…

The Minister has dealt with the issue of the wood pigeon derogation. From a farming point of view, the farming community has already taken a major hit. I am delighted to see that common sense has prevailed on this issue. After speaking to the Minister earlier, I think it must come from her big Limerick connections, which are great to know about. It will make it a lot easier for me to be coming for extra bits and pieces for Limerick knowing that she has so close a connection to the place. An issue was brought to my …

I will redirect my question. I will also contact the Minister with the names of the sites that have come to my attention. They are heritage sites. The Minister can then determine whether they fall under her remit. If it is the case that these CEOs have taken their salaries and the sites fall under the remit of the Minister, I want full disclosure with regard to any CEOs and senior managers who have taken funding. The second point I intended raising concerned wood pigeons and has already been dealt with. The common …

In the time I have been in this Dáil, I have never seen a Minister go around in circles answering questions as much as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed. I have never been so disappointed in the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, for not getting back to Deputies. I asked the Ministers, particularly the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, for help. I texted her and rang her mobile. I contacted her office and she had not the integrity to ans…

The Minister will wait until I am finished. I asked her for help because I had information that would help her to help others but she believed she was above everyone and did not even acknowledge us. Limerick has stood up to the test and has offered help around this country. I had to contact Ministers to tell them there was a company in Limerick making masks that was exporting to Germany. They did not even know they had this within their grasp. Now the company is producing masks for the HSE, and many staff in the HS…

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, wants to jump in.