Ba mhaith liom mo chuid ama a roinnt leis an Teachta Flaherty. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, opened his budget speech yesterday by saying "The backdrop for budget 2021 is a truly remarkable one", and never was a truer word spoken. When the budget last year was presented, it had been developed by the then Government in the shadow of Brexit. It was described as a "Brexit budget". Now, 12 months later, while we continue to prepare for Brexit and the enormous shift and change i…

Gabhaim buíochas le gach Teachta a bhí ag labhairt agus ag cur isteach sa díospóireacht. Bhí pointí an-tábhachtacha déanta maidir leis an Eoraip agus maidir leis an tír seo. Táim buíoch do na Teachtaí a rinne cur síos ar roinnt de na ceisteanna tábhachtacha a bhaineann le caidreamh seachtrach na hEorpa, ceist a pléadh ag an gcruinniú speisialta de Chomhairle na hEorpa sa Bhruiséil an tseachtain seo caite nó a bheidh ar an gclár ag an gcruinniú de Chomhairle na hEorpa an tseachtain seo chugainn. As the Taoiseach ind…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach as an bhfáilte a chur sé romham anseo ar maidin. Ba mhaith liom freisin mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir McCallion ós rud é gur ardaigh sí na hábhair tábhachtacha seo ag tús an tSeanaid inniu. The New Decade, New Approach agreement, as the Senator said, was published on 9 January 2020, and formed the basis for the parties in the North to resume operating the power-sharing Assembly and Executive. The Irish and British Governments, at the same time, each anno…

I will pass on the Senator's request to the Taoiseach and the Ministers. We have a Taoiseach who is probably the most committed to education we have ever seen. He is also committed to breaking down the barriers between people within the North and between North and South. That is what this Taoiseach is about. One way of doing that is expanding access to education, both regionally for the north west and Derry and with regard to the cross-Border education aspect, which has not been given the attention it deserves over…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as ucht an fháilte a chuir sé romham inniu. Nuair a tháinig mé isteach mar Aire Stáit níor cheap mé go mbeinn, ar mo chéad lá sa Seanad, díreach ar ais i Seomra na Dála. Tá taithí agam anseo ach bhí mé i mo Sheanadóir ar feadh cúig bliana freisin. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ucht an t-ábhar seo a roghnú don Seanadóir Ward. The human rights situation in Belarus following the presidential election is appalling and has been on an ongoing basis but, particularly, since …

We will maintain our call for the authorities to engage in meaningful dialogue. To be clear, the Government led by the Taoiseach does not accept the results of the election. I want to be absolutely clear. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, of which Belarus is a member, has offered to visit Minsk and help facilitate talks. We will continue to encourage the authorities to grasp the offer with both hands. I am hopeful targeted EU sanctions will be imposed shortly, and the Taoiseach will be…

Gabhaim buíochas le gach duine as an seans an buiséad agus na rudaí tábhachtacha seo a phlé inniu. I want to thank everybody who has come into the Chamber today to discuss the particular issues. Different views have been expressed, and some have been put forward in the best-----

Yes, but I am answering the questions. Some issues have been put forward that are not correct. I want to be very clear about the CAP and I will answer Deputy Marian Harkin's question in this context. The CAP budget for Ireland is protected. Damaging cuts were originally proposed during the negotiations and they have been reversed. The starting point back in 2018 was a 15% cut in rural development expenditure and a 4% cut in direct payments but in terms of the new proposal, Ireland's expected allocation for CAP is a…

Can I just answer the last question?

I thank Deputy Brady for giving way. I fully accept the bona fides of Deputy Healy-Rae raising this issue. Taxpayers' money is a very important issue. He is right to be cautious, as the Government is also, but that does not fall under my area of responsibility in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It is an issue for the Department of Health. I will pass on Deputy Healy-Rae's concerns to the Minister for Health and the officials who are in charge of it. The Deputy has raised valid issues that deserve an an…

Of course.

I thank both Deputies for the questions. Deputy Brady's question on the national recovery and resilience plans is very helpful. With the greatest respect, I have to say that there has been a lot of confusion about this issue today. To obtain the grants, member states are required to prepare national recovery and resilience plans setting out their reform and investment agendas for the years from 2021 to 2023. Plans can be adapted in 2022 in advance of the final allocation of funds in 2023. The criteria for these pla…

It is very nice to be back on this side of the House after almost ten years. I am glad to be responding to this matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality. It is a very important case. The Deputy has mentioned the implications for Ireland's data protection regime of the recent judgment of the European Court of Justice on the EU-US privacy shield. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the matter. The Government respects the views and findings of the European Court of Justice and is fully su…

As I outlined, the Government is fully committed to the highest standards of data protection being in place for the benefit of Irish and other EU citizens. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, supports the entitlement of people across the EU to exercise their rights of data protection. However, the independence of our courts and the European Court of Justice must be respected, as must the independence of the DPC. I take on board the point made by the Deputy regarding the funding of the DPC but it does not detract from its…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he is aware, dealing with this issue is a key commitment of the programme for Government and, in fact, a key personal commitment of mine. It is an issue I identified early on as one I wish to champion in my role. I am glad that the Deputy is singing from the same hymn sheet, as I knew he would. Ireland's membership of the EU brings with it a range of employment possibilities for Irish citizens in the EU institutions. We have punched above our weight at EU level for many…

Since taking up office as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I have met my officials on this issue. It is a priority to address the decreased number of Irish people working in the institutions. With that in mind, I have had extensive meetings on this to continue to develop the strategy that is already under way thanks to my predecessor. I have arranged a number of meetings with stakeholders for the coming weeks. The Deputy raises the very important point that it is not simply about the appl…

I would have been happy to let the Minister continue because some of the stuff is important for parents to hear but that is the decision.

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis na Teachtaí Browne agus McAuliffe. The issue of social distancing in school, which the Minister has addressed, is obviously a key issue and a key determinant of what happens physically in schools when children go back. The second issue, about which we have not heard a huge amount and about which we need to hear more in general, concerns the long-term implications of school closures. The third issue concerns some aspects of the summer education scheme. I welcome the publication of i…

Yes. I have asked previously that good-quality expert academic research be done on the learning losses, which I see and that we all know of anecdotally, over the last number of weeks and months in order that teachers and the State know in September what is the position regarding children. Most people would say there has been a learning loss. I believe it is obvious. While some people suggest that children's learning is enhanced by e-learning, I cannot see how that could be possible in the middle of a pandemic when …

It should be a primary function of the Department to carry out this research fairly urgently. We have had limited research but I know that it is being carried out by some people. The emerging evidence from the UK is that pupils working from home are doing a lot less learning than was previously thought. That is despite the best efforts of all involved: teachers, parents and children themselves. In the UK, they reckon that children have learned for an average of two and a half hours a day. There are limited data alr…