The Taoiseach is twisting the truth.

What about the other process?

I am sorry. I was expecting a Government representative to be called in light of the insistence of a change in the order a few months ago. I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this issue. I want to say at the outset that I do not for a moment underestimate the challenges involved in taking the kind of decisions that are required over the coming weeks. There is no doubt that there is a lot of pressure on, some of which I believe is coming internally from Government parties, and a lot of expectation. Clearly,…

I welcome the intention of this Bill and commend Deputy Mairéad Farrell on her work in this regard and on bringing it forward. The purpose of the Bill is to allow for the implementation of several recommendations made by the Standards in Public Office Commission in 2019. At the time SIPO made a number of recommendations to improve and strengthen transparency and accountability in public office. Unfortunately, the Government of the time chose to ignore these recommendations. I remember raising them with then Ministe…

I commend Sinn Féin on the motion. This motion and its sentiment have been expressed many times in this House, including in the current Dáil, the previous Dáil and the Dáil before that. Unfortunately, we have yet to see any kind of serious action being taken on it at Government level. I respect that the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is a new Minister in this portfolio. The Minister came in and in all sincerity she delivered that speech tonight, but there is really nothing new in it at all. I would have to refer to it a…

I wish to raise the issue of the exposure of the State to a potential overspend or overpayment of rent for a complex, Miesian Plaza on Baggot Street, which has been rented for use by a number of Departments, and the failure to date to recoup the over payment of rent. Perhaps the Minister of State could provide an update on exactly what action is being taken.

That response is quite unsatisfactory. The potential exposure for the State as a result of a mistake that was made in measuring the floor space at that complex is €10 million. The Minister of State indicated that this is one of the most significant developments, which it may be, but it is also one of the most expensive. It is utterly unacceptable to have a situation where a mistake was made, that this was identified by the Chief State Solicitor's office in 2016 and that the lease was subsequently signed in January …

With all due respect, for the Minister of State to say that it is not satisfactory is quite an understatement in light of the amount of public money involved. The Minister of State indicated that the OPW has acknowledged the mistake. It had no choice but to acknowledge the mistake. The OPW made the mistake. I am concerned about the €10 million of taxpayers' money for which the Minister of State has responsibility. It is the case, as I understand it, that the developer is ten months late in responding to the request…

He has accepted the overpayment.

That is shocking.

The Minister of State said he was hopeful. Being hopeful is not enough when €10 million is involved.

I want to raise the question of international travel and some recent developments in that regard, and hopefully get some clarification from the Tánaiste. Last week, the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, when he appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks, was asked about the possibility of restrictions on air travel being eased in order to facilitate people to travel here at Christmas. His response was that international travel is not safe and movement of people around areas with high inc…

I thank the Tánaiste. On my question about the requirement for a double test, my understanding is the medical advice is that a double test would be required at the moment. I ask the Tánaiste to clarify that. My question in regard to capacity for tracing does not relate to the current numbers, it relates to the potential for large numbers of people coming here for Christmas. That is why it is really important that there are not mixed messages in this regard. I note what the Tánaiste said about the current advice. In…

What is the situation where a person tests positive?

Is there any oversight of that?

The situation we are dealing with here should never really have arisen. The Tánaiste, while Taoiseach, last year engaged in an action which was wrong. He was found out and had to own up. He should have admitted that it was wrong and apologised. That would probably have been the end of it. However, he never admitted it was wrong and instead concocted a false narrative, a cock and bull story which clearly misrepresented the truth on a number of counts. Arguably, that was the greater error because the truth matters. T…

By any standard, the past few days have been damaging to the Government. This has been another damaging episode for this short-lived Government. By extension, the past few days have been damaging to politics. We had the spectacle of a senior member of the Government being exposed for engaging in what can only be described as grubby activity for grubby purposes by leaking a confidential document to a rival union while the Government was engaged in ongoing negotiations with a licensed union. The Taoiseach stated that…

An error of judgment is not the same as saying that something was wrong, and the Taoiseach's deputy also knows that; he made that point. The Taoiseach is also engaging in this distortion. That agreement was not signed off by the IMO until 16 April and was not published by the Department for another month. The code of conduct applying to a Taoiseach specifies that officeholders should respect confidences entrusted to them in the course of their official duties. Patently it is clear that the Tánaiste, when he was Tao…

I know that.

The Taoiseach is twisting-----