Gabhaim an-bhuíochas léi as ucht a comhairle.

Bíonn deá-chomhairle ar fáil in aisce uaithi i gcónaí. First of all, I would like to deal with some specific issues in the budget. In the second half of my contribution, I will talk about the wizardry of modern finance and how, as a simple person, I wonder at times how this magic money is always coming about. There used to be certainties. Matter could not be created or destroyed. Then it was found that if one split the atom, one could destroy matter but one could create energy out of it. Therefore, it became that e…

A new environmental scheme was promised to follow on from the existing schemes. For those who were in the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, and had to leave it or were never in a scheme, when will the new environmental scheme that was promised in the interregnum between the old Common Agricultural Policy and the new CAP be published? Will it be a general scheme for farmers to join or a very limited pilot scheme?

I get very worried when I hear the words "pilot scheme". It seems limited, strange, complicated and worrying. I often wonder if we are going backwards or forwards. When the rural environment protection, REP, scheme, was in place and we moved on to AEOS, a person who left one REP scheme could join another. I refer in particular to those farming in areas of high nature value where much of the land is designated and who have come to depend on these schemes for their livelihoods. They were not allowed expand their floc…

How many farmers left AEOS and could not join GLAS because they stayed in it until the end? How many of those will be able to join this pilot scheme which it seems will have very limited numbers? This is a bread-and-butter issue. It represents survival for people on their farms. It is not some added extra. It is fine to say all the other farmers will be able to avail of some measures. The cohort of farmers who were in AEOS had been in REPS 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on, but financially they have suddenly fallen off a cliff.…

The Minister might outline in detail the new scheme introduced this week to support those sectors worst hit by Covid-19, and particularly those that have been closed down under the levels 3 and 4 restrictions. We have the broad outline of the scheme but we do not have the detail.

Yes.

What the Minister is saying is that if a company's turnover falls by 80% or more it can get the full amount. If, for example, it falls by 50% to 80%, can it get anything?

It has to have fallen 80% or more. The Minister might also explain to me the position regarding a restart grant and a restart grant plus. My understanding was that one could get both of those grants. However, without warning, the restart grant stopped three weeks before the originally announced date. Is any consideration being given to making the restart grant available to those who would have been eligible if they had applied within that three-week period, which ended suddenly? As I said, some people got two grant…

I guarantee the Minister that I will cut and paste what he has just said and make sure that they bring that to the attention of the local authority. I suspect that if the Department had persisted in playing this jiggery-pokery of pulling it back without notice three weeks before the originally announced date the Ombudsman would have ruled in favour of those who could have applied by the date set by the Department that was changed suddenly, but I welcome the Minister saving everybody the bother of going round the mo…

I dtosach báire, cuirim fáilte roimh an €3.5 milliún atá curtha ar fáil do TG4 ach tá sé thar am athbhreithniú iomlán a dhéanamh ar mhaoiniú earnáil craoltóireachta na tíre. Creidim go bhfuil luach airgid iontach á thabhairt ag TG4, go mór mór nuair a thugtar san áireamh go bhfuil sé ag craoladh i dteanga mhionlaigh. Déanann sé meascán maith clár. Molaim caighdeán na gclár faisnéise a chuireann sé ar fáil go mór mór. Táim in amhras go mór ar RTÉ ar uairibh. Ceapaim go bhfuil an-mheas aige air féin agus b'fhéidir go…

That is two of us. Caithfear cuimhneamh nach dtagann ciall roimh aois.

There was a time when we got 20 minutes in a debate on the budget. Now, we are meant to cover all of the Budget Statement in four minutes. I do not know what has gone wrong with this House. I do not know what has gone wrong with democratic accountability. A Deputy beside me has also been here longer than I have, so we must have all the old timers here tonight. The way this is being done now is worse than it was. We talked about reform in 2016, but it is backwards that we are going. We used to get detailed Estimates…

In 2013 the mobility grant scheme was suspended. I know that those who were getting it still get it, but that was a long time ago. It was said at the time that an alternative scheme was being devised. The upshot of a recent court case is that we are no longer carrying out examinations for the primary medical certificate. Will the people affected by this have to wait seven years for the issue to be addressed? We talk about care for the disabled, but do we act accordingly? Will provisions to rectify both of these iss…

Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Aire agus leis an Aire Stáit. Is deas an rud é, tar éis naoi mbliana de bhearna, go bhfuil Aire sinsearach Gaeltachta ann go bhfuil Gaeilge aici agus go bhfuil spéis aici sa Ghaeilge. Is mór an dul chun cinn é sin. Bhí sé sin leagtha síos sa straitéis 20 bliain. Tá an-áthas orm faoin méid daoine a labhair sa Dáil inniu, Teachtaí Dála ó chuile thaobh den Teach. Bhí páirtí mór amháin ar an taobh seo den Teach nach raibh aon chainteoir acu, ach labhair go leor Teachtaí i…

My question relates to the tenant incremental purchase scheme of 2016. This is the most unsuccessful tenant purchase scheme ever. The Minister of State will probably agree with me. Can he let me know when he will bring in the radical changes to the scheme that are urgently needed?

I thank the Minister for his reply. When was the review completed? He said he hoped to bring proposals forward soon. I have heard that for three or four years. I mean no disrespect to the current Government, but the word "soon" is one of the most misused words in the House. Can the Minister of State tell me whether "soon" is before Christmas, before Easter or before this time next year? Can the Minister of State tell me how has the Department decided that a pensioner who can put cash on a table to buy a house would…

The Minister of State did not tell me when the review was completed. A review was completed. The Minister of State did not give me the definition of the magic word in the English language, "soon". I would like a definition of what he calls "soon" because I have heard the word for three years. I do not know if that is because it rhymes with zoom, but we need to get zoom into this soon. He seemed to imply that I or anybody else thought any person other than a tenant or joint tenant could buy a house. Is the Minister …

Are we talking about three or six months?

Unfortunately, it would appear that Covid-19 is going to be with us not only for this year but probably well into next year and until we find a vaccine. This is having a significant effect on the arts, entertainment events, tourism and sport. What long-term plans are there to support these sectors? I can understand that during the early phases of the pandemic there was emergency planning, but we need a long-term plan for the tourism, sport, arts, culture and events sectors.