Mattie McGrath: Calls for fairness for pensioners and mobile trades

Teachta, I wanted to acknowledge the concessions that had been made in bringing forward some of the stages, but the over 66, Teachta, are still neglected and they're not looking for much. All they wanted was the difference between their pension and what the COVID payment were getting because they have and still do play a big part in our society. Mobile businesses, Teachta, they're badly affected and there are many from the bread van to the milkman to the ready-made driver, the block driver and indeed the many services that are out there, the service people coming to our house with fresh fish, God knows, you name it, they're there and because they're not paying rates, because they're mobile, they're getting nothing and it's very unfair. And I was astounded to hear Heather Humphries, the Minister for Business Enterprise, saying that they were in a better position to deal with it than others. How could they be? They've been stopped dead in their tracks and they've had no income. It's very, very bad there. Teachta, the childcare. I don't know why you can't use the fabulous array of communities centres that are up and down, almost every community now. And thanks to government grants, but thanks to teams of volunteers that put them there, that were the enablers, as I call them. And the community hall should be used for the childcare. They are used in some area, in my own village, the Neenra uses the childcare, the community hall as an add-on, but they could be used, they're big as well. Teachta, the barbers, we did discuss it the other day, Deputy Healy Way said, and I know you had a letter from Willie Walsh, a wonderful barber in Clonmel. In the paper. But, Teachta, are you going to direct an effort to ensure that barbers, especially, and some hairdressers, I know it takes a bit longer to do the ladies' hair than it does the men's, so it's a difficult issue. But nonetheless, the back market is thriving here and it's killing our economy and killing those businesses. The one I speak of, and many more, Lee Moorl and Care, and many others, they're open for 40 years and doing a business and good employment. And they have invested hugely in their premises now to do it safely and to do it well. Teachta, I also want to say to private bus companies who bring our children to school, there's a 50% of them are CIE contracts, there are bus airing contracts now, and they are getting the 50% of their income, which is necessary and help. But there are a large cohort, and I know many of them, such as Dini, Whelan and Care, who do, they provide bus services to families who can't get the service from bus airing, and they provide the very same insurance, the very same standards, the most has to be DOE, everything else, just rightly so. And they're not getting a penny. And they can't afford, and we need them back in September, when the schools reopen again, so they should be out there, so they're addicted also. The July provision has been mentioned, teacher. It's just awful. And I welcome that some GA pitches and plane pitches are open now for limited time for them to get in there. They've been stuck in their houses. Teacher, I have one question to ask you, and it's a serious one. 74,000 people responded to the call to help Ireland, to help in our HSE, in our hospitals, and only 140 were implied. What is wrong? That kind of arising and a spirit of the people, and yet, that 74,000 was whittled down, because a lot of them were denied that they didn't qualify. Of the 74,000, only 140 were implied. And yet, teacher, we're still printing the money, the huge money, on the private hospitals. I know we had to take him over, I supported it, but I believe the month of June, they should have been given back. Because the number of people waiting for all kinds of tests, the certificate checks, the breast checks, you name them, prostate cancer, we have an advertiser, I hear, Taoiseach Kinney, now you might get a job if you're out of a job next week, if my heart takes over from you, and the radio supporting the hospice. I'm just making the point that, so many people waiting for so many operations, and so much capacity going to waste, and the queues are going to be massive for the winter. So, Taoiseach, look, those questions, but could you really answer me, about, as I said, revenue commissioners, Taoiseach. Many of the grants, again, the staff drop, people have been told, because you haven't your tax up to date, you're not getting it. There should be some leniency with revenue, especially with tax this year, because everything just closed overnight, and people weren't able to do their books and get their tax in, and they have no revenue to pay it. So they must see some understanding there, on the revenue, that people, this year's taxation, since the real is going on, a long time different than the story, but it's current, you should get a break. Thank you, you might give me one answer. Thanks, Deputy. I can assure you I'll still be a Taoiseach next week, so you don't need to do any sayonaras just yet, Deputy. Just in relation to the private hospitals, the contract for that ends at the end of June, so it's really only a couple of weeks now, and the private hospital contract will end, although the HC is now trying to negotiate a new arrangement with the private hospitals to allow them to step in, if for some reason we need the beds at a later stage, and also using the NDPF to get some work done for public patients that needs to be done. Just in relation to the On Call for Ireland campaign, yes, a very large number of people expressed an interest, quite a large number weren't suitably qualified, quite a large number already worked in health and social care, for example, people working in nursing homes, and rather than moving them to hospitals, we wanted to keep them in the nursing homes for reasons people don't understand. So, and what also happened there as well, is a lot of people were recruited locally anyway, rather than going through the HSC central system, which can be quite cumbersome at a local level, at a hospital level, at a community level, managers were empowered to recruit locally, and in a lot of cases that's how it was done, instead of through the central system. Thank you very much.