I compliment Deputy Catherine Connolly and her colleagues on bringing forward the motion. It might have been an ill-judgment of the Minister to leave before some of the contributions were made. I say this with no disrespect to the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, and I acknowledge her presence. The Covid-19 situation and all the restrictions that came into being gave rise to angst and anger because of the disruption caused to maternity services. Nobody is to blame for Covid-19. One of the things we must learn…

The response to the plan is welcome. There are two or three issues I wish to highlight. I am concerned about the PUP being phased out for everybody. I am thinking of those who work in live music. I do not mean acts like U2 or Hozier, but the people who play in pubs, at weddings and so on. Their sector is still being decimated and there will be no work for them for a long time. Their PUP needs to be kept at whatever level they are at until they begin to open up. That is very important. I heard the Minister for Finan…

We have heard talk that the national broadband plan may be expedited. What dates are expected for the new programme to facilitate remote and blended working? The programme needs to show dates for areas because the detail on dates available to consumers is very vague.

We are talking about having a five-year programme. The problem consumers have is that when they make inquiries about when they may expect to have fibre broadband in their homes, they are not being given dates. They are basically told they are at pre-survey stage. No date is forthcoming when they ask about expected dates for having broadband provided. If a company has a programme that runs for five years or seven years, there has to be some indication or target dates for when things will be done. I was involved in t…

I understand that when a district is at survey stage the company will say that once a survey has been done, consumers in the district will get a connection within 18 months. However, if the Minister is revising the plan, it is important that we tie down the contractors to what will be done and when it will be done in years three, four and five. That needs to be done now so that there is certainty for the 500,000 households which are expecting broadband. These people have been told they will get it. We hear about a …

I wish to ask the Minister about the better energy warmer homes scheme. Will he expand the scheme to include households that previously benefited from the insulation grants but do not meet the required BER, in particular houses with solid wall construction that under previous iterations of schemes could not be insulated and just saw their attics done. Now that external wall insulation is part of a grant scheme, can we look at inviting people in these houses back into the scheme?

It is a great scheme for the people who need it and who are in energy poverty, but in the review being done it is important we look at households which are still in energy poverty. They are not getting the benefit of the scheme as it is now. I accept that lots of homes have not benefited so far, but it is important we redress the absence of proper insulation in some of the houses. This is nobody's fault but is due to the types of grants that were available in the past and the type of construction of these houses. I…

I thank the Minister. I agree with all the sentiments he has expressed regarding the importance of this issue. It is one of those areas where we can make a huge difference to people's lives and at the same time save a lot on energy and make sure that people's homes are warmer and better places for them to live in. An issue arising now, as the contractors will tell one, is that the cost of materials, including insulation material, is growing as a result of a lack of supply of certain materials to make the product. I…

I reiterate what many other speakers have said on the Covid vaccine roll-out. It has been a prime example of how, working together, we can get things done right. The feel-good factor around the country from everybody who has been vaccinated is palpable. It is important we continue that. My first question was alluded to earlier. It relates to nursing homes and TAPS. I broached the question yesterday with the Taoiseach but the most important thing is that, when Covid arrived first, nursing homes were not prioritised.…

In the remaining time I wish to go back to the TAPS issue. I am concerned that if we have a cliff-edge scenario, bearing in mind what we have been through, and what the Minister of State described, nursing homes will be at risk again. We have to be very careful about that. Given the work the nursing homes have done, we need to support them because they will be doing a lot more work on safety measures going forward. I welcome the Minister's comments on US travel. I hope we will be first to invite the Americans to Ir…

Nursing homes have embedded additional measures into their day-to-day care to enhance the protection of residents and staff due to the pandemic. The scheme to support them, namely, the temporary assistance payment scheme, TAPS, is to cease on 30 June. Can the Taoiseach confirm that this scheme will continue, particularly as intensified infection prevention control measures will remain in place in nursing homes and there will be enhanced safety measures for residents, staff and visitors? Removing the scheme would be…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, to delete line 31, and in page 8, to delete line 1. These provisions, which substantially affect other Acts, are not normally included in the general definition or interpretation of the Act. In other words, they do not normally find restriction to another Act or a definition or interpretation in the section. An exception to this would be providing a different definition from one of general application in another Act, that is, providing a different meaning to a word or phrase that …

I note what the Minister of State said but the key point I am making is that one does not normally find a restriction on another Act included in a definition or interpretation section. I accept that it is not legally wrong to do so and that this is, in effect, a technical issue. I will not be pressing the amendments. This Private Members' Bill was introduced by former Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh in 2018. I commend him on his determination in getting it passed. The Bill seeks to remedy some of the issues in the law of…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this emotional subject. It is important that we reflect on the violence we have seen on our television screens over the past number of weeks. I condemn violence from anybody. A situation where innocent children, men and women are being killed is not the way to do business, no matter the cause. We have seen this situation recur. It is important for us to reflect on the fact that this country has had a lot of struggles and death. Many innocent people have been killed. However, we…

I raise an issue which is very important not just for my constituency but for many constituencies across the country, namely, public transport. The provision of public transport is something that has been highlighted in my constituency, where in the recent past Bus Éireann decided to cut back on some of the services it provides between Galway and Limerick. That service is route 51. It brings into focus the whole concept of providing public transport and how the National Transport Authority, NTA, which has the veste…

I thank the Minister and welcome his announcement about the pilot scheme for County Leitrim. I agree we cannot have more of the same, where there is a mismatch. We must start with the very basics, look at where the rural populations are, where they are migrating to work, how they are going to work and how they come back home in the evenings. If Members listen to the AA Ireland traffic reports, they will hear about Claregalway. Every evening we hear about Bóthar na dTreabh in Galway. The people who are causing the c…

I wish to ask the Minister about the broadband roll-out happening at the moment. I am delighted to say that I was part of getting it out. Surveys are being carried out currently. One bit of action is required from National Broadband Ireland, NBI, however, which is to prepare a medium-term programme to show people when they may expect to see the service coming to their area. Currently, NBI will give a person an answer to say that a household is at pre-survey stage, but it cannot give any indication as to when the se…

I move: “That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — many of our towns and villages do not have water and wastewater treatment services; — we need people living in communities to develop growth centres; — towns and villages need investment to provide the infrastructure necessary to attract families to live, work and raise their families; — clean water and wastewater systems are essential components to grow communities; and — the excessive cost to the homeowner for the provision of water and wastewater treatment services …

I wish to share time with my four colleagues.

This Bill is welcomed by everybody. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for bringing it forward with such haste. The Bill is long overdue. I wish to mention the previous Minister of State, Jim Daly, who worked on the Bill. He probably got some of the legal wrangles sorted out for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and I want to acknowledge his work. It is important that we protect family farms and businesses. It has been an anomaly in the system that there was no cap on the contribution in the same way…