Cuireann sé áthas orm go bhfuil deis agam cúpla focal a rá i dtaobh na ceiste seo. Ar ndóigh, táimid ag comóradh agus ag ceiliúradh Sheachtain na Gaeilge an tseachtain seo ach tá sé i bhfad níos tábhachtaí go mbeadh bliain na Gaeilge i gceist chuile bhliain. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach aitheantas a thabhairt dóibh siúd a labhraíonn agus a úsáideann an Ghaeilge chuile lá go nádúrtha taobh istigh agus taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht. Ag deireadh an lae, is iad siúd beatha na teanga. Is féidir breathnú ar an saol mar …

I would like to reiterate what has been said by other speakers about the meat industry. The Covid pandemic has certainly highlighted the need for a task force to look at terms and conditions and the whole structure of employment within the industry. It is fair to say that there are very few workers in the meat industry who have not, sooner or later, contracted Covid. The Minister might give us the figures in that regard. The second issue I want to raise is the fact that last year was a disastrous one for coastal co…

First, I thank the Minister for the move he made in facilitating fishermen with Northern-registered boats at the ports. However, it is very restrictive. It is Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., in Howth and Rossaveal, and much more restrictive, as he knows, in his own county. Is there any way of facilitating fishermen who need to land at the weekend in order to get to markets early in the week, in other words, the Tuesday market, and who want to put the fish fresh on the market? It is an issue that has been rais…

I will try. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might stop the clock too. Second, there is a perfect storm at the moment for the shellfish sector. There is Covid, Brexit and all the problems getting goods in and out. My understanding is that, particularly with farmed oysters, the price has literally gone through the floor, although some other shellfish are not as badly affected. Is there any plan to give assistance to that sector? Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the Department of Finance did not see fit to include them i…

I am sharing my time with Deputy Kieran O'Donnell. Bhí áthas orm a chloisteáil go ndúirt an tAire sa rún inniu go gcuirfear cibé PPE a theastaíonn ar fáil. Tabharfaidh sé sin faoiseamh intinne do go leor daoine. Chomh maith leis sin, tá páirt ag chuile dhuine sa tír cuidiú le gasúir agus a muintir dul ar ais ar scoil agus aire a thabhairt nach muid a scaipeann an galar seo agus líon na n-uimhreacha a laghdú. I really believe in debates in the Dáil and thrashing matters out. This is a case, however, where we would a…

As the Minister knows, in the early 2000s there was a crisis about rural development, access to hills and so on. Much work was done on it. There seems to have been a long hiatus in the early part of the past decade in which little happened. What progress has been made in rural development? How are we going to develop this absolutely phenomenal asset we have? For example, has the Minister resolved the issue of access to mountains in an organised way, as was piloted back in 2008?

The genesis of setting up Comhairle na Tuaithe and the most urgent problem it faced in its early years was the whole issue of access to farmers' lands, particularly hill land and mountains. All that is owned by somebody. What we call commonage is shared ownership land. It is not common or some public land unless it belongs to some organisation such as Coillte. As it was not mentioned in the Minister's reply, what progress has been made to build a scheme that recognises the rights of farmers and, on the other hand, …

The Minister said local authorities might take out insurance. Will she clarify how that will stop somebody suing the landowner, as well as the local authority which has got the insurance cover? The idea of the indemnity scheme was to indemnify people against being sued. There is very little chance of a successful claim for somebody coming to harm on a hill through no fault of the farmer. The person would have to show reckless disregard according to the law. There are cases, as the Minister knows, in Wicklow and up …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Is cúis aiféala dom nach raibh mé anseo nuair a thosaigh sí. Ag casadh le seanchara de do chuidse a bhí mé, an t-iarTheachta O'Sullivan. Shortly after the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, was announced, guidelines were issued on 3 November for the scheme. Based on these guidelines many businesses applied for the scheme and spent time and money preparing applications. In early December many of these businesses which were badly hit by the restrictions the Govern…

That is one of the most fantastic "Alice in Wonderland" scripts I have ever heard. Changing the rules is now defined in the new Eurospeak as clarification. The rules were very clear. Unfortunately, people will have to pursue this on the basis of what the rules were when they applied. I have no problem with somebody realising a scheme is not to his or her liking and deciding to change the rules. That is perfectly legitimate. Departments do that all the time but the rule is that it cannot be done post factum . In oth…

This has been a very difficult year for many but it has been particularly challenging for prison management, prison staff and prisoners. I compliment the staff of the Irish Prison Service, IPS, on the way in which Covid was kept out of the prisons. I also recognise the co-operation of prisoners who have been deprived of visits, and many other things in the prisons, as a result. What arrangements have been made to allow for prison visits over the Christmas period to happen in as generous and humane a way as possible…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I realise the health challenges involved. It is a question of balance. I recognise that video visits have been made available, although there have been some gremlins with that system. It is certainly a help but, as all of us have discovered in our own lives, video visits, Skype and so on are no substitute for personal contact. We are also aware that one of the big losses involved in being in prison is the loss of family contact. This has been exacerbated this year. We al…

I am glad to hear the Minister of State say that because I believe flexibility is what we need. Not all situations are the same. There is not the same pressure in all prisons regarding visits. In the context of the health issue, I would make the case that the risk presented by two members of a family who live together is no different than the risk presented by three. If they live together, one would imagine that whatever one catches, the others do. The humane thing would be to make arrangements for children to be a…

I am inquiring about the number of persons involved in testing and tracing as part of the Covid-19 response who were transferred to this work from other sections of the HSE. People who previously provided therapies and so on have been transferred to testing and tracing. I ask the Minister to explain why it was not possible to leave those workers in their positions and hire other people to do this necessary testing and tracing work.

Can the Minister say how many redeployed people, and particularly non-administrative staff, are engaged in testing, not in complex tracing? How many are involved in the routine tracing that was being done, for example, by Army personnel and so forth and, therefore, can be done by competent people who are not necessarily required to have a medical background? I understand the people who carry out the test do not need that background either. It appears the HSE has a total inability to recruit speedily. It is difficul…

The Minister said that over 200 therapists are involved in swabbing. That means 500 of the staff are not therapists. It also means that if there had been quicker recruitment, and there is a massive number of well-qualified and competent people who are unemployed because of Covid-19, the therapists could have been allowed back into their jobs. Can the Minister give an estimate of the increase in the waiting lists for many types of therapy that has occurred due to the fact that there has been a long, non-crisis redep…

One thing that constantly disappoints me in the Dáil is how little time we give to deep debate about the Bills, for example, Finance Bills and Social Welfare Bills, which affect people day to day. Unfortunately, this Bill has come in late. It did not go to committee for debate. It is not that the Bill is controversial but we need to have a debate on social welfare. We can appoint all the commissions and experts we want. I would love, however, if we set up a commission of all the people in receipt of social welfare …

We are coming to the end of the year and 2021 beckons. There is a small typo in the question and I think I made the mistake when I submitted it. It should refer to the years 2021 and 2022. I believe it will be 2023 before the new CAP, comes into force, and perhaps the Minister will confirm this. What are the transitional arrangements going to be for 2021 and 2022? What progress has been made in the greater scheme of things for the CAP from 2021 to 2027, in other words, the full CAP that will come into force sometim…

Will the Minister confirm that I am right in understanding that the basic payment scheme will continue in 2021 and 2022 more or less as it is until the new CAP comes in, the areas of natural constraint scheme will continue as is for those two years also, GLAS will continue for another year and other schemes, such as the sheep welfare scheme and the beef data genomics scheme will see out their full course? Will the Minister confirm whether we have more detail on the proposed new environmental scheme for the transiti…

I take it that, even though the money from the basic payment scheme is coming out of the new programme, the scheme rules are likely to remain more or less as they are in 2021. My understanding is that after 2021, whatever replaces the basic payment scheme and greening could be different, even radically different, from what we have. The scheme relating to areas of natural constraint could also be different, as could all the rural development schemes. Have we any idea, from preliminary papers that are probably floati…