Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his presentation. We were all heartened watching the scenes of the opening up of a variety of outdoor activities and certain sports yesterday, particularly for younger people and children. That is giving people the sense that we are near the exit, which is to be welcomed. Citizens, residents and businesses have had a hard number of months and anything we can do collectively as an Oireachtas to ensure we make the transition back to some level of normality as easy as possible is to be welcomed. I fully support the two propositions. I have some questions and I ask the Minister to come back on them in his résumé at the end.

Can the Minister clarify the timelines for the extensions about which he is talking? With respect to the takeaways, can he confirm that the regulations are only for existing, operating and licensed restaurants, as opposed to new businesses that are looking to establish themselves? Regarding street furniture, while local authorities will not be charging for that, there is obviously a cost involved. I ask the Minister to outline what the Department is going to do to support the local authorities to address any costs incurred and any revenue lost.

I have two questions about awnings and coverings. First, when does Minister intend to lay those regulations before the Oireachtas? Second, some of our villages, and particularly urban villages, have much more stringent planning rules about street signage and signage on buildings. How is the Minister going to deal with the interaction of those rules? Those of us from Dublin Mid-West will know that Lucan, for example, has very strict rules about what people can and cannot do. Is the Minister designing these regulations in a way that will remove the requirement for planning permissions while at the same time ensuring that is restricted where there is a certain heritage element or planning restriction in a given area, so as not to change the heritage character of said village?