We have become an expert in this country in setting up some type of group with a wide remit and waiting for a report if we do not want to solve a problem. While we wait for the report, nothing happens. This is an urgent issue. The budget is only a few weeks away. Can the Minister confirm that some certainty will be brought to this wide range of sectors in the budget? Will provision be made, not just for a month or two but in the medium term, to ensure the survival of these vital parts of our society? Anybody who ow…

I am glad that the Minister has set deadlines for the report of the task force. I regret that it was not done in time for her to receive all the task force reports not just a week or two before the budget but well in advance of it. Better late than never. I still wish to stress the fact that we are getting stopgaps, pilot schemes and so on. We need some medium-term planning and certainty for all of sectors, including sports, events, and the arts. Some are largely State funded and have funds in the kitty. Some are t…

D’éist mé go cúramach leis an díospóireacht go dtí seo. I congratulate the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on her appointment. I have always felt that, in any system where there are undue delays in making decisions, justice delayed is justice denied. Everybody should have the right to object, but decisions should be made speedily. I know farmers who have been waiting three or four years to fell a small amount of timber that was grown for ecological purposes. The second point is that the timber industry is very …

The reclassification of loans with future Covid-related payment breaks as non-performing loans could have serious consequences. Will the Minister outline the effect this will have on the capitalisation requirements of the banks and, subsequently, their ability to lend money at competitive rates?

I thank the Minister for his reply. If the Minister had extended the payment break before 30 September for a further six months, would it have prevented the reclassification of these loans as non-performing loans under the rules? As a consequence, this may have avoided the capitalisation problems outlined by the Minister while still having all the EU and other money provided. Will the Minister confirm if other EU countries extended the break for a further six months? Did the Minister examine the reasons they did so…

Can the Minister explain this to me? As I understand, these loans are to be reclassified as non-performing loans. When loans are classified as non-performing on a bank's balance sheet, the next temptation is to sell them off to vulture funds in tranches. We know the consequences of that. The Minister talks about the same conditions applying. Everybody who has dealt with people in the hands of vulture funds knows the consequences of having a loan transferred to one. Can the Minister confirm that the risk of such tra…

Tá áthas orm deis a fháil labhairt ar an ábhar seo. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht teacht isteach anocht agus éisteacht leis an gcás atáim ag déanamh. Nílim in aghaidh óil ach táim in aghaidh an iomarca óil de bharr an dochar a dhéanann sé do dhaoine. Is é sin atáim ag iarraidh a mhaolú. Mar a deirtear i nGaeilge, nuair a bhíonn an deoch istigh, bíonn an chiall amuigh. There is a saying in the Irish language that when the drink is in, the sense is out. We know the truth of that statement. There can be …

I listened carefully to the comments of the Minister of State. Everything he stated backs up the case I have made. This is a very desirable measure. As anybody who examines it will see, what it hits really hard are cheap, high alcohol content drinks. If a drink has a very low alcohol content, one can sell it in volume more cheaply because minimum unit pricing will not have the same impact. The impact of the measure relates to the alcohol content of the drink. We need to do this. The Minister of State did not addres…

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I am reassured by what the Minister has said but it is also important that we focus on the statement that we hear every day in every plan about balanced regional development, given that it is rarely implemented in the west and north west. Recently, the Minister announced an extra four stations on the Luas line at a cost of a few hundred million euro, but what is a few hundred million euro up in Dublin? He also announced the electrification of the Maynooth line, which will cost another few bob. He announced that we …

Castlebar and Ballina as well.

As the Minister will be aware, the Supreme Court recently issued a ruling on the issue of leave to apply for substitute consent. This has to be addressed. According to the Government's legislative programme for the autumn session, the planning and development (amendment) Bill is among the 30 Bills, which equates to two per week, in the priority list for publication. That Bill is meant to deal with this issue, along with several others. Is this Bill likely to be published in this session? If so, will it be published…

The Minister knows I am a great proponent of the levelling effect rural broadband will have. It is important to rural areas. What progress has been made about the roll-out of the national broadband plan in 2020? Is it really up and running? How many houses will be connected this year, how many will be surveyed, how many will be connected next year, and so forth?

Am I correct in thinking that the way this is being rolled out by National Broadband Ireland is from the centre outwards? It is starting at the periphery of towns and cities and working outwards from the densely populated urban areas. Therefore, the least-populated areas will have to wait until the end. The Minister said that, so he might confirm it. The Minister said that 10% will not be done within five years. I take it that 10% is in the mountains and hills or the kind of place I live in. Is there any way that c…

Rural Carrigaline or rural Bushypark, perhaps.

Is it possible for the Department, in consultation with National Broadband Ireland, which has got this fantastic State contract, to perhaps get an outline of how it plans on rolling out this particular project and how it intends carrying out the surveying? That will then answer the question as whether it is doing the easy pickings and the more densely populated areas first and that the people out on the hills and the mountains will be left until last. Is it possible for the Minister to get National Broadband Irelan…

Planning permission for this pier is in place since 2008. In 2015 the then Minister for Finance provided €6 million for the construction of the pier. That money was later withdrawn because there was no way of spending it. This has been going on and on. I believe that the funding cannot be asked for until one has the price. I understood that the next step in the process was to get the business plan approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I will give warning here to the Minister, and I am sure th…

What about the business plan? Has that been submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform yet?

A high-quality airstrip was built at Cloon and Laghtanabba in Cleggan and another on Inishbofin. The idea was to provide an air service based at Na Minne in Indreabhán, from where the Aran Islands service already departs, to Cleggan and then on to Inishbofin. This was built in the noughties but was never opened or commissioned subsequently. Will the Minister examine the possibility of providing badly-needed air services to Inishbofin?

Inishbofin is 70 miles from Galway and to go to or from Galway on public transport takes 3.5 hours. If the air service was operating, a person could do it in approximately an hour, which is a saving of 2.5 hours each way. If a person tried to do it in a day, one way would take seven hours and the other two hours, which is a saving of five hours. Everybody agrees that the services to the three Aran islands are lifeline services and are absolutely important. The State does not have public consultations about this; it…