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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 30 Jul 2020

Vol. 996 No. 3

Adjournment of Dáil: Motion

I move:

That the Dáil on its rising tonight shall adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 15 September 2020.

Is the proposal agreed to?

It is not agreed to.

It is not agreed. I have already written to you, a Cheann Comhairle. The Data Protection Commissioner has expressed concerns about the practices in Dublin Airport and I believe it is appropriate for An Tánaiste and the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to come into the House next week and take questions and answers and not just statements.

Furthermore, it has been mentioned already on several occasions that people are watching - of course they are. We do not need six weeks' holidays. I believe it would be much more appropriate if we were to resume proceedings on 1 September. I ask that we convene next Tuesday to facilitate questions and answers with An Tánaiste and the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection on an issue causing great concern. Concern was expressed about people looking in here. The same people are phoning radio shows. They are concerned. We deserve to have our questions answered and I believe the floor of the Dáil is the appropriate place to do that. We do not agree to the adjournment.

Does the Deputy have a proposal?

I have proposed that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and An Tánaiste come into the Dáil on Tuesday and take questions and answers on what is going on in Dublin Airport and the concerns raised by the Data Protection Commissioner, and that we adjourn when that is concluded and reconvene on 1 September.

The Labour Party would like to support the proposal made by Deputy O'Reilly. I also wish to raise the issue of pandemic unemployment payments to those who are self-employed and those who are in receipt of employee wages and self-employed wages, who are now going to be put on a lower schedule of payment. We can only resolve this issue if the Dáil is sitting. We cannot have a six-week recess for those who are in receipt of this payment. It would be very simple for us to return here on Tuesday to have questions on this issue and come to a resolution on it and the issue outlined by Deputy O'Reilly.

Does anyone from any of the other groups wish to contribute? I call Deputy Mattie McGrath.

(Interruptions).

The self-employed musicians and people at home will not like the cheerleaders tonight. If they had guitars, they could play them. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are like "The Lonesome Boatman" on the fiddle. That is what they are.

I too believe that after what happened here tonight, when we gave the vulture funds more powers, abandoned the self-employed, the pensioners, people with disabilities and everything else, the Dáil should not rise. I know we agreed this in the Business Committee but we should not rise. We should finish our business and deal with it properly here next week.

Does the Minister of State wish to respond?

Yes, we are proceeding with the motion on the adjournment as moved.

Question put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 84; Níl, 45; Staon, 0.

  • Berry, Cathal.
  • Brophy, Colm.
  • Browne, James.
  • Bruton, Richard.
  • Burke, Colm.
  • Burke, Peter.
  • Butler, Mary.
  • Byrne, Thomas.
  • Cahill, Jackie.
  • Calleary, Dara.
  • Cannon, Ciarán.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
  • Chambers, Jack.
  • Collins, Niall.
  • Costello, Patrick.
  • Coveney, Simon.
  • Cowen, Barry.
  • Crowe, Cathal.
  • Devlin, Cormac.
  • Dillon, Alan.
  • Donnelly, Stephen.
  • Donohoe, Paschal.
  • Duffy, Francis Noel.
  • Durkan, Bernard J.
  • English, Damien.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Feighan, Frankie.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Flaherty, Joe.
  • Flanagan, Charles.
  • Fleming, Sean.
  • Foley, Norma.
  • Grealish, Noel.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Haughey, Seán.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Higgins, Emer.
  • Humphreys, Heather.
  • Kehoe, Paul.
  • Lahart, John.
  • Lawless, James.
  • Leddin, Brian.
  • Lowry, Michael.
  • MacSharry, Marc.
  • Madigan, Josepha.
  • Martin, Catherine.
  • Matthews, Steven.
  • McAuliffe, Paul.
  • McConalogue, Charlie.
  • McEntee, Helen.
  • McGrath, Michael.
  • McHugh, Joe.
  • Moynihan, Aindrias.
  • Moynihan, Michael.
  • Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
  • Murphy, Eoghan.
  • Murphy, Verona.
  • Naughton, Hildegarde.
  • Noonan, Malcolm.
  • O'Brien, Darragh.
  • O'Brien, Joe.
  • O'Callaghan, Jim.
  • O'Connor, James.
  • O'Dea, Willie.
  • O'Donnell, Kieran.
  • O'Donovan, Patrick.
  • O'Dowd, Fergus.
  • O'Gorman, Roderic.
  • O'Sullivan, Christopher.
  • O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
  • Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
  • Ó Cuív, Éamon.
  • Rabbitte, Anne.
  • Richmond, Neale.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Ryan, Eamon.
  • Shanahan, Matt.
  • Smith, Brendan.
  • Smyth, Niamh.
  • Smyth, Ossian.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Troy, Robert.

Níl

  • Andrews, Chris.
  • Barry, Mick.
  • Brady, John.
  • Browne, Martin.
  • Buckley, Pat.
  • Carthy, Matt.
  • Clarke, Sorca.
  • Collins, Michael.
  • Conway-Walsh, Rose.
  • Cronin, Réada.
  • Crowe, Seán.
  • Cullinane, David.
  • Daly, Pa.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Paul.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Farrell, Mairéad.
  • Fitzmaurice, Michael.
  • Funchion, Kathleen.
  • Gannon, Gary.
  • Guirke, Johnny.
  • Healy-Rae, Danny.
  • Kenny, Martin.
  • Kerrane, Claire.
  • Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Mattie.
  • McNamara, Michael.
  • Mitchell, Denise.
  • Munster, Imelda.
  • Murphy, Paul.
  • Mythen, Johnny.
  • O'Reilly, Louise.
  • O'Rourke, Darren.
  • Ó Broin, Eoin.
  • Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
  • Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
  • Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • Quinlivan, Maurice.
  • Ryan, Patricia.
  • Stanley, Brian.
  • Tully, Pauline.
  • Ward, Mark.
  • Wynne, Violet-Anne.

Staon

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Brendan Griffin and Jack Chambers; Níl, Deputies Denise Mitchell and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
Question declared carried.

The adjournment is agreed.

On a point of information, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Connolly, chaired over 60% of the debate tonight and I want to find out if she walked out in protest with the rest of the Independent Members. This is a very serious-----

That is not a point of information.

It is a point of information.

No, it is not.

She should come into the House before this ends tonight to clarify her position as to whether she did or not.

In fairness Deputy Kehoe, that is not a point of information and you are around here long enough to know it is not.

We move now to No. a13. I put it to Members that it is now 12.14 a.m. The Order of Business envisages one hour and 25 minutes debate with the Minister for Education and Skills on the opening of schools and calculated grades. We had one hour and 30 minutes, I think, with the Minister this morning. We then have a further 48 minutes with Topical Issue Matters. I notice many Members are leaving. That is their prerogative. Do Members wish to continue with the sitting or do Members feel that at 12.14 a.m. it is rather late and they might wish to adjourn?

Who is offering?

It is imperative that we continue to sit, particularly on the subject of the reopening of schools.

I thank Deputy Gannon. I will stay here all night if Members want to. That is okay, Members want to continue.

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