I welcome the Bill, the proposed increase in parental leave from two weeks to five weeks and the inclusion of those in same-sex marriages. It shows we are moving forward and being positive, which I welcome. I do, however, have a number of issues with the Bill, which I will outline. First, the rate is too low. A lot of families, if they decide to take parental leave and especially if they decide to take the full ten weeks, would be down a considerable amount of money during that time. This will be a barrier to some …

This Bill strips away from renters many of their protections from being evicted. It is unbelievable the Minister would include section 2 in the middle of a pandemic when, under public health guidelines, we should be trying not to put people out of their homes and having to look again for accommodation. Yet, that could happen with this Bill. This is the fourth time the Minister has brought forward this legislation. One question must be asked. Why did he not bring in this legislation for 12 months? Now, he has brough…

I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett on this issue. Taxi drivers in Cork are telling me how hard they and the industry are finding this situation. They cannot cope. They need more supports from the Government. On the replacement of cars after ten years, there was an extension to that rule for the year, but it must be extended again. How can taxi drivers replace cars which are ten years old right now? The Minister made the point that some 200 taxi drivers have availed of the grant. If there are 20,000 taxis and 200 gran…

It is reported that 10,000 people have been trained to administer vaccines, yet the Government's target, at peak, is to vaccinate 250,000 people per week. This means that in an average working week for those 10,000 trained vaccinators, each of them will vaccinate only five people per day, according to those figures. Why is the target so low? There are 800 vaccination booths across 37 vaccination clinics and each of those booths has a capacity to vaccinate 100 people per day, on the basis of a 12-hour day, five days…

The Government plan said there would be 1 million vaccines given per month over three months, which is 250,000 per week. Why do we have capacity for 500,000 when the very best-case scenario, which we will not even reach, is that 250,000 does can be given? It just does not add up.

Tragically, another man who was sleeping rough has passed away on the streets of Cork. I send my sincere condolences to his family and friends on his passing. Shockingly, we have no way of knowing the number of people engaging with homeless services who passed away either in Cork or nationally because there is no database. The Minister has confirmed this to me. Without the full figures and without knowing the circumstances of these people, we are unable to put in the supports necessary to prevent people from dying …

We know that people with disabilities constitute one of the sectors that has suffered most due to Covid-19. I have been contacted by people with disabilities who are entrepreneurs, who want to start their own business or who want to get their businesses going again but there is a lack of support for them. Will the Tánaiste and the Government provide supports for people with disabilities to help get them up and running and put them on a level footing with everyone else? They need support, especially at this time.

The Government’s Bill highlights what Sinn Féin has been saying for years, which is that Fianna Fáil is being led by the hand by developers and speculators. Are Fianna Fáil members suffering from amnesia that they do not remember what happened in the previous property crash, how they brought the country to its knees and hundreds of thousands of people had to leave this country because of the damage they did to it? The Minister is now coming forward with this new proposal for a shared equity scheme that is being sup…

I have the same issue about vaccine centres. Three such centres were announced for Cork city, one in the city centre and two on the southside. Once again the northside of Cork city is being abandoned and forgotten about. There is no vaccination centre in one half of Cork city. It is not fair. There was also the closure of SouthDoc. There needs to be fairness when it comes to providing health services to the people of the northside. I am asking the Taoiseach, as a Cork Taoiseach, if he will get on to the HSE to ask …

The Minister came in here yesterday and said that quarantine measures were being brought in to protect the vaccine programme in order that it is not undermined by new variants. What the Minister has failed to acknowledge is that a limited list of countries is not good enough. We need all people travelling from all countries to be quarantined on arrival. That is the only way we can provide protection from new variants getting into the country. Ordinary people have done their best. People have stayed home and kept th…

On the same issue, an announcement was made two hours ago by the GAA that the Munster post-primary schools competition has been cancelled for the 2020-21 season. This will have a very serious effect on young people in school and the same could happen with many other sporting organisations. What plans are in place to support young people in sport and the arts, particularly in the context of their mental health? This is a serious issue affecting our young.

I want to express my disappointment at the title of these statements and questions and answers. Addiction services and homelessness are two issues and are often intertwined but we must recognise that these are two separate issues. Those in active addiction or in need of addiction services are not always homeless. Vice versa , homeless people are not always in active addiction. To say otherwise shows a complete lack of understanding and it is about time this Government stopped insulting some of the most vulnerable i…

I can take the answers in writing from the Minister of State.

I will take that up with the Ceann Comhairle.

I have written to the Minister about conducting a walkability audit and ensuring that correct disability parking spaces are installed-----

-----rather than just parking spaces with disability signs. We wrote to the Minister seeking for him to provide funding so that a walkability audit could be carried out on behalf of people with different types of disability and limited mobility in Cork city, but it should be done in every constituency.

In my constituency of Cork North Central, the LDA is developing the St. Kevin's site as its flagship initiative. The Minister will be aware of the St. Kevin's site, which is the location of a former mental hospital owned by the HSE. The Minister might also be aware that for years I have been calling for this site to be developed.

It is shocking that I am still contributing on the St. Kevin's site, which the LDA is now developing. The Minister is making comments about the site now, but if he wants to know the real facts of the situation he should know that for 20 years this site has lain idle under governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. If I had received the support of the Minister, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael eight years ago when I sought the development of this site, we would now have houses on it and people living there. The whole is…

The Government and its Minister with responsibility for housing in particular have indicated they want to end the housing crisis but there are vacant houses lying idle right across the State. A solution I have suggested for years, and which I put to the Minister last year, concerns these vacant properties. Currently, the Government puts out two calls per year for local authorities to refurbish vacant properties. There is a cap on the process and it is hampered by red tape and bureaucracy. I call for a straightforwa…

I wish to raise issues with the IAA pension scheme and with the treatment of those with an IAA pension and the provisions they have been given. I have raised this matter with the Minister of State through parliamentary questions, and while I understand that she views it, technically, as a private pension scheme, it is fair to say she has some role in its governance. I ask her to meet those who are affected and in receipt of an IAA pension. They have engaged with the IAA board and the Department and are unhappy with…