It should not be progressed. That is what I am saying.

It should be set aside.

At this stage, Opposition Deputies are used to going through the Finance Bill, which follows the budget, with a fine-tooth comb. There are often attempts to bring in provisions for additional taxes or reliefs that did not form part of the budget week leaks and announcements. It is just business as usual for the opaque way that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party govern. That said, there are some welcome measures in the Finance Bill 2020, such as section 2, which increases the universal social charge threshol…

On behalf of the Independent Group, I acknowledge the apology the Taoiseach has given to Patricia and Damien today. While that is important, we need to ensure that no other apology has to be given in this House again. That will make a real difference to that family and many others.

The Tánaiste must be very happy to have had this opportunity to put so many documents on the record to show how much he had the public interest in mind when he carried out this leak. Why did the Tánaiste not put these contacts on the record between April 2019 and October 2020, if they were of such good service to the people?

The Tánaiste just said that this was "not something that was at issue". He was not caught, that was why it was not put on the record.

That is what the Tánaiste said. He said that it was not something of issue. It was not of issue because nobody knew about it.

Once people come to know about it, then it becomes of issue.

It was because the Tánaiste was caught that this became an issue.

That is what the Tánaiste said.

The Tánaiste stated as well that he should have brought Dr. Ó Tuathail into the Department, sat him down and gone through the document line by line. However, he did not do that. Was that because the Tánaiste did not want anyone to know about this, and that is why he did not do it? Regarding his previous answer, it is only because it is coming up now that he wants to put this on the record. It is a case of the Tánaiste not wanting anyone to know about it and that is why he did not put it. Is that right?

In his response, the Tánaiste said that had he been asked about this issue he would have put it on the record. So, only if we can ask the right questions will the Tánaiste answer them and put anything on the record. That is basically what he is saying.

That is what he said in response to my question. He said that if he had been asked about this issue he would have put it on the record. That shows, therefore, the way he feels about it. Earlier, the Tánaiste said there was no personal gain for him in this, and I accept that there probably was not any personal gain for him. In reality, however, this leak took place a month before the local elections and the elections to the European Parliament, which was the first challenge the Tánaiste faced as the Fine Gael leader…

In reality, we do not know what other groups were stopped from canvassing against the previous Government because we have not asked the right questions to get the Tánaiste to answer them and there have not been leaks in relation to the documents given to them. In reality, in 2019, Fine Gael got 20 extra councillors in the local elections and one extra MEP in the European elections. What the Tánaiste did actually paid off and the NAGP did not campaign against him. To my mind, that is where the pay-off came. I believ…

It was the Tánaiste's first challenge as leader.

It is now the end of October. We are more than seven months into this pandemic and experiencing the expected second wave. In March, we felt we were all in this together and communities pulled together. Then the great coalition was formed and things started to fall apart. The scandals, the Fianna Fáil-ness of one's behaviour, golf-gate, Mr. Phil Hogan’s whistle-stop tour around Ireland instead of quarantining, the rotating agriculture Ministers, not to mind rotating taoisigh, grated on the public’s patience and nerv…

I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett on this. The whole tenet of this legislation appears to be just to place the blame on householders and that householders are responsible for everything that is happening with Covid. One would imagine that Covid was lurking somewhere in the utility room or in the kitchen waiting to get out and that the only way to get out was through the householders. We know that is not the case. We actually almost had it beaten in and around June and July but the Government lost the run of itself. …

I wish to speak in support of the amendment. Before I do so I wish, with the Ceann Comhairle's latitude, to mention an amendment I submitted and which, due to a mix-up between him and the Bills Office, has not been accepted. It would have been in order, and this signifies and shows how the Bill has been rushed through. These processes are there as a way to allow people to have an input into the legislative process. The processes have been short-circuited. My amendment was to the Minister's amendment. There is an ad…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to speak again, although I wonder what is the point. It might be worth recording that everyone is wrong except the Department. Maybe we should put on the record that everyone here is wrong, all the survivors are wrong, all the people who have gone through the material and all the academics who have worked on the entire process over recent years are all wrong and the Department is right. That is what we are to take from the process and we are to go off into the sunset. D…

On the face of it, I support this Bill as it will ban evictions during the level 5 lockdown. The Bill's title states that Covid-19 “will impede the ability of tenants to find alternative accommodation” and mentions the “consequent impact on the well-being of persons and families”. Since when have the mental health impacts of secure housing been a concern of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael? Their housing policies have been set up over many decades to reduce the availability of affordable housing, destabilise the private re…