I thank the House for this opportunity to consider the measures that have been introduced in response to the recent rise in cases of Covid-19. As Deputies will be aware, earlier this week the country moved to level 5 of the Government's medium-term strategy for dealing with the virus, Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19. I do not propose to rehearse all of the measures that are encompassed by that move. Colleagues are aware at this stage, following the address by the Taoiseach on Monday…

I move: That Dáil Éireann resolves that the amendments effected by Part 3 of the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 (No. 1 of 2020) shall continue in operation for the period beginning on the 9th day of November, 2020 and ending on the 9th day of June, 2021.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am here to introduce a resolution to extend the sunset clause in the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, which is due to expire on 9 November. It is fair to say that we are living in truly unprecedented times and I do not believe it is possible to overstate how serious a threat Covid-19 continues to pose to our lives, our health and well-being, our economy and our society. To date, Ireland has recorded 53,422 cases a…

That is a flat-out lie.

That is-----

I had a speech prepared for the last ten minutes of the debate, but I might try to address the various questions that Deputies have taken the time to raise. I apologise to Deputies if I do not get through all the questions. I will sit down with any Deputy who wants to after the debate and go through the questions in more detail. I thought I would try to take the time-----

I am not giving the speech. It is probably not right to circulate it. I will try to cover the points made by each Deputy. I want to extend an offer to all colleagues to sit down with me after the debate if they want to discuss further issues if I do not get through their points. Various Deputies raised the issue of Opposition briefings. I agree with the sentiment. As I have said in the Chamber, I do not believe there were sufficient Opposition briefings at the start of the pandemic. I have been working hard in the …

I signed the regulations last night and I assure Deputies that it is a non-penal provision and it will remain thus. Golf has been mentioned many times. Some people have been suggesting that tennis was allowed. It is not. Tennis Ireland has withdrawn the comment it made. Essentially, no sports are getting an exemption. The exemption is for elite and professional sports, for reasons we all understand. They are professional or semi-professional and operate in controlled, safe environments. Some people want golf to be …

I participated in the first debate when I was in opposition. I fully agree-----

With the greatest of respect, Deputy McNamara used all his time for debating to say how unfair it was that he did not have any time.

I offered to meet you afterwards if you wanted.

I beg your pardon, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Deputy McNamara spent all of his time for debate talking about why he had no time for debate. I have offered to give more time. I will finish on this point. The powers that we are seeking to extend are extraordinary. They do not sit easily with me and they did not sit easily with me when I was an Opposition Deputy and the Bill was brought in the first time. I was one of the people who insisted on a sunset clause. I do not like these powers. I do not want to have them and …

On Tuesday, we announced an additional €4 billion in health spending. It is the largest health budget increase in the history of the State and a clear signal of how seriously this Government takes public healthcare. My three main priorities are improving access for patients, improving the healthcare experience for patients, and improving outcomes for patients. The budget delivers on all three of those priorities. I will start with patient access. I am allocating €467 million to fund new hospital and community beds.…

I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of section 72 of the Finance Act 2005 (No. 5 of 2005), that Act be amended, with effect as on and from 14 October 2020, by substituting the following for Schedule 2 to that Act (as amended by section 39 of the Finance Act 2019 (No. 45 of 2019)): “SCHEDULE 2 Rates of tobacco products tax (With effect as on and from 14 October 2020) (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under…

I thank the Deputies. I will address Deputies Smith and Howlin at the same time as their questions had a similar message. Deputy Boyd Barrett also raises a similar point. I can provide figures on the illicit trade, but let us put it aside for a second. I was asked if there are other ways to reach people and whether this affects lower income households disproportionately. The answer to both questions is "Yes". One of the things we have done in the budget is to increase the Healthy Ireland budget by €20 million. It h…

That is a fair point. I have figures before me relating to the illicit trade. Deputy Duncan Smith asked whether the Government has considered the point at which the benefit of the revenue brought in by duties on tobacco is outweighed by the increase in counterfeit tobacco and the associated effects. Health officials and finance officials consider the fact that when we increase the tax and the price goes up, it increases the volume of illicit trade. The briefing note I was provided for this session shows that the vo…

As colleagues will be aware, on Monday the Government made the decision that the entire country should move to level 3 of the Covid framework plan. This came into effect at midnight on Tuesday for three weeks. The decision was not made lightly. I am acutely aware of the costs of these decisions to individuals, families, communities and businesses. The level 3 measures in place are the same as those in place in Donegal and very similar to those put in place in Kildare, Laois and Offaly in August. I will now outline …

I thank Deputy Cullinane. The only person whom I have heard suggest that NPHET was going on a solo run is Deputy Cullinane, right now. I have never used that language. I do not know who has used that language. The only person whom I have heard make that suggestion is the Deputy. That is the only time that I have heard that language.

I have not suggested that, nor would it be proper for me to make such suggestions. The meeting of NPHET was convened by the CMO on Sunday, out of the normal cycle of NPHET meetings on Thursdays, something which the acting CMO had done from time to time when the CMO was away. That is what the CMO did, and he was absolutely within his rights to do that. Indeed, if he chooses to convene NPHET again this Saturday, Sunday or Monday, that would be his right. Nobody tries to influence when NPHET meets other than the CMO a…

I will answer the Deputy's question in full. I think I did so in my speech but I will do so again. However, it strikes me that this session was booked for several days and it was agreed on Tuesday to talk about the fact that the country has just moved to level 3. Some people, for the past few days, have had no jobs. People have had to close down their businesses. I would have imagined that the Deputy would be interested in a conversation in our Parliament about what we were doing about that and what supports were i…