As the Minister of State knows, the primary medical certificate is issued by the HSE and is a declaration to say the holder is severely disabled and-or a permanently disabled person. This certificate is required for the purposes of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994. A primary medical certificate is only awarded to people with a very high level of disability. Holders of the certificate automatically qualify for a disabled parking permit. The primary medical certificate a…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am glad he acknowledged the archaic language used in the scheme and the fact it bears no relation to the difficulties people live with now and for which they need support. The Minister for Finance has opened up the scheme because of a court action. He was forced into it, basically. I am wary that we might not see changes coming forward for this. It is vital that we do and that we make sure it happens. The Minister referred to significant tax expenditure in a reply w…

I will ask some very quick questions if I could get "Yes" or "No" answers, it would be appreciated, as then we could have a chance of getting them done and dusted. Will all vulnerable people in cohort 7 in all counties be vaccinated by the end of June?

Will all housebound people in rural areas be vaccinated by then too?

Does the Minister receive update reports on the vaccine roll-out per county?

Is he concerned about the progress of the roll-out in any county in particular?

Will all SNAs and ancillary school staff be fully vaccinated before September so that schools can restart safely?

This question relates to the designation of mother and baby home burial sites in county development plans, which is a vitally important issue. I have been writing to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, in this regard but I believe it also comes under the remit of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and that he needs to address it. In light of the decision of An Bord Pleanála with regard to Bessborough, it is even more important that this is done in every county right across the country.

The Minister is outlining a long-term plan and the actions that will take place. That is welcome and will protect many of the sites. The problem is that many of the sites may be gone by the time that long-term plan is in place. At the moment, every county is renewing its county development plan. Now is the time for the Minister and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to intervene. Obviously, the local authorities are independent in their actions, which is fair enough, but a letter from a Govern…

I know some local authorities have engaged and have issued apologies and so on. These were the ones mentioned in the report but I do not need to tell the Minister that the report only picked a sample of mother and baby homes while they existed right across the country in every local authority area. That engagement needs to take place to ensure that as much as can be done to protect these sites is done in the meantime as we wait for the legislation to be drafted and put in place. That is important. I know the Minist…

I will continue from where I stopped yesterday. I was talking about the level of communications we have been receiving from people in recent weeks. I do not believe these are from conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers or Covid hoaxers. Some of their arguments have some basis in reality. They argue that the Act has caused an unacceptable level of collateral damage and suffering, including in relation to physical and mental health, loneliness and isolation, increased domestic violence, and damage to the livelihoods of m…

I thought we had up until 8.15 p.m.

Okay. I will wind down slowly. I will save the benefit of my speech until the next time we come back here and we can have that debate. It is good because Deputy Joan Collins was going to share this slot with me and she is not here. We will be back in tomorrow for it anyway. I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to debate Second Stage of the Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021. As the Minister knows, this wee Bill is intended to amend four not-so-wee Acts. This Bill provides for am…

I adjourn the debate.

Seaview Respite House in Mountcharles in County Donegal is slowly reopening but the disabled people who get respite there, and their families, are in desperate need of a proper service. Will the Government put pressure on the rehabilitation services and the HSE to ensure the service reopens fully, on a seven-day-week basis, so that families can get this much-needed respite?

I despair but am probably not surprised at the latest genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people. I am sick to my core at the cowardly response of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who seeks to blame Hamas rockets with no reference to the instigators of this violence. We cannot look away while Palestine is decimated. The "both sides" narrative for the last week and a half has been absolutely shocking. Hamas is throwing rockets while Israel is carryi…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute on the Bill. I have been asking parliamentary questions for some time about the Bill's progression, as its provisions may impact a large number of my constituents. Some Donegal farming families have been in contact with me about this amending legislation and were anxious to see what it would contain. The IFA farm family and social affairs chairperson in County Donegal has been in regular contact with me about it since December. The chairperson was …

I have a question on the addition of the debate on the cyberattack. The additional item has been welcomed by most Members but it has added more than two hours to the agenda today, meaning that the Dáil is not going to rise until 12.30 a.m. How can this item be added to the agenda when something else Members wish to add cannot be added because of Covid restrictions? I wonder whether the Covid restrictions exist. What is the story in this regard?

On Tuesday, 11 May, there was finally some justice for the ten people murdered in the Ballymurphy massacre. Fifty years after the tragedy of August 1971, an inquest, led by the coroner, Mrs. Justice Siobhan Keegan, found that the ten people killed were entirely innocent. The inquest found that nine of the victims had been shot by the British army. However, due to the lack of investigation at the time into the tenth death, that of John McKerr, it was not possible to definitively rule who had shot him. Nine men and o…

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to speak on this important Solidarity-People Before Profit Private Member's Bill. I commend Deputies on introducing this timely legislation, the purpose of which is to improve the rights of employees in circumstances where their employer is in liquidation and the company is being wound up. It is a short Bill to amend the Companies Act 2014 and will make provision for recognition of redundancy payments that are agreed in relevant collective agreements in a winding-up of a compan…