A memo was brought to Cabinet to investigate banning evictions, as was done in the previous lockdown. This is sorely needed and should never have been removed. It was needed even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Where is the same urgency when it comes to students? Students are in a unique position in the rental market as they are often asked to pay months in advance. This runs into thousands of euro for hard-pressed families and students. When requesting refunds for unused accommodation they are told that there is no …

The Government must bear some responsibility for this as to the institutions, the late timetables and announcements. Students are struggling immensely, emotionally, financially and socially. The anger and sense of injustice they feel is really palpable. We are asking them to adhere to level 5 restrictions. We need to bring them with us and to show solidarity with them. Level 5 counts as use prevention. Surely that means we must put in place measures to ensure they are given fair play. We cannot be observers of this…

This question relates to the additional funding that has been allocated to craft apprenticeships and to ask the Minister about the number of consortia-led apprenticeships which have been created since 2016. I very much welcome the extra money that has been put into apprenticeships but I want the information to be accessible to people. I want more encouragement for students and young people to take up apprenticeships.

I thank the Minister of State. I very much welcome that. Is there a single portal where young people can gain access to information on apprenticeships? Could we think about developing a separate app just for apprenticeships so we could make people, particularly the young, aware of what is available and what an apprenticeship might mean for them? Over recent years, apprenticeships have been the poor relation to third level education. There is no point in our having all these apprenticeships if we are not communicati…

I thank the Minister of State for that. We are all on the same page regarding apprenticeships and their encouragement. We know their value, particularly in rural communities where people may want to set up their own small businesses or be self-employed after gaining a qualification. I look forward to working with the Minister of State in the development of new apprenticeships in all kinds of new fields to meet the demand, particularly in respect of green energy given its potential.

This is a fairly straightforward question. It is just seeking clarification on the 10,000 upskilling and reskilling places, the 4,000 apprenticeships, the 5,000 higher education places and the 1,500 Springboard places. Are they in addition to the 35,000 further and higher education places announced as part of the July stimulus package?

I thank the Minister for that. We just needed clarification because we are trying to get an exact picture of how many places are available and the opportunities that exist. It is important that we communicate these and ensure everybody is included. We must remove any barriers. Sometimes the criteria for some of the upskilling jobs are such that they do not fit the candidates. Particularly in these circumstances, we need to remove all barriers to opportunities so people will not be held back by stringent criteria.

I believe the Minister already answered this question having regard to the distribution of the student hardship fund announced as part of budget 2021. I very much welcome that. I welcome the fact that the Minister says the funding can go towards the student contribution fee because so many people are excluded from Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants. I am aware that the SUSI grant needs to be increased as it has not been increased since 2012 but I am trying to capture the people who are in genuine finan…

I thank the Minister. I welcome any opportunity to ease the financial burden on students. We need to lower the high student fees. Our success story for further education would be that nobody would have to be awake at night worrying about whether he or she could send a child to college. We have to make it affordable and examine people's real-life financial circumstances. We cannot have circumstances in which people who are very capable of doing all types of third level courses must make a decision not to do one beca…

I share the Minister's concerns about the student loan model. We need to get this model right such that it will serve students and their families. We need to do that as a matter of urgency and we need to look at education as an investment and not purely a cost. We do not want our students to be leaving college, or worse still to be forced to drop out of college, because of financial circumstances. I look forward to working with the Minister on it.

People need hope and as much certainty as possible during this global pandemic and this budget was an opportunity to provide just that. While the headline figure of €16.75 billion additional expenditure suggests a progressive budget, in reality the inequality gap continues to widen. Covid-19 has laid bare the mismanagement of public services and the misguided policies of successive Governments. Most importantly, it has shown us the importance of undervalued workers and carers. The time spent on caring work in Irela…

We already have a carbon tax. Since 2010 we have collected about €3.5 billion on carbon tax. The money has not been ring-fenced for climate change measures. People find it difficult to understand. Some years ago, "Prime Time" interviewed the CEO of the Corrib gas project. He was asked when the company would pay corporation tax. He replied that it might be paid in 20 or 25 years' time. That is one of the problems with this proposal, namely, the little people are being taxed all the time. Another problem is the lack …

It will be no surprise that I will talk about Mayo County Council and the people of Mayo. The estimated 2021 Covid impact is €7.2 million, which represents 68% of the €10.6 million discretionary spend which will trigger severe austerity unless the gap is filled. This will affect local roads in one of the largest counties in the country. We need to remember that people are already paying property tax. Many of them do not have proper access to their houses. Issues relating to housing maintenance will impact particula…

I am disappointed with the Minister of State's answer. We cannot lay this issue at the feet of elected members of county councils. They cannot manage the austerity that is being imposed upon them and nor can the people whom the Government is trying to get to empty their pockets again. These are people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic and are already suffering severe financial stress. We cannot go back to them and ask for more. It is completely unfair for the Minister of State to argue that the solution …

I will take Deputy Carthy's time if that is okay.

In February 2018, the Government published a report that it had commissioned on the impact of Brexit on the Irish economy. The report deals with four possible scenarios, the most severe being a hard Brexit, which is a real possibility now. It confirmed at the time what we already knew, namely, that there will be no good Brexit for Ireland, with a crash-out Brexit being all too real a possibility. I read the report again and it highlights how rural Ireland would be particularly hit. It predicted a loss of 30,000 job…

I have listened intently to the Minister. It is obvious there was no good news to be announced this morning because the Minister's Fine Gael Cabinet colleagues are not here. There is an absolute crisis in the Government. I do not think the Minister understands it. From start to finish, we have had months of this in terms of the leaving certificate. It is unbelievable that the Minister and his colleagues in Cabinet would think that it was okay to sit down at a Cabinet meeting and not discuss the leaving certificate …

I want to concentrate my remarks on front-line staff and their situation in terms of burnout and stress. Front-line staff are at burnout and cannot continue to work overtime in understaffed conditions. This is not safe or fair to the staff or the patients they care for. Trolleys line the corridors and there is not enough staff to look after patients. Staff are being moved from one area to another. I welcome that extra capacity has been provided, as in the case of Mayo, in terms of the stepping down of patients from…

I cannot believe that the Minister did not have this matter discussed at the Cabinet meeting. Will she confirm that it was not mentioned at any stage of the Cabinet meeting? Whose decision was it not to discuss it at the Cabinet meeting?

Okay. It is a question people want answered. I will put it in another way. People find it absolutely incredible that the Cabinet sat around collectively and did not think this was serious enough to discuss. The Minister did not even get the basic data right. We have to remember that an awful lot of pressure was put on teachers and schools to submit all of the results before the end of June. The Minister has had all of that time since. There was a further delay to get this right and rerun the model. The basic consta…