Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The Government is working as one and has been since it formed. I appreciate that there are people who are opposed to this Government and do not want it to last. That does not include the Deputy, but it does include others. Those people will do their best to stoke up, invent and exaggerate any differences that may occur between different politicians and parties. I remember well, during the height of the Brexit struggle, that people would go out of their way to ask me a question, ask Deputy Coveney a slightly different question, and, when we gave slightly different answers, suggest that he and I were at war over Brexit. That was always rubbish. I see a certain element of that narrative now being promoted by our opponents and other people.

I have no idea what the Deputy means when he says that members of the Government parties have been taking each other apart on television. I have not witnessed that and I would be interested to hear the Deputy give an example.

The rural pubs are going to be allowed to open on Monday, which is a welcome development. It is something for which the Deputy campaigned and fought. We are putting a lot of trust in our publicans to make sure that they conduct the reopening safely and ensure that people are socially distanced. I have confidence in them to do that and believe that they will be able to lead the way and show what can be done. That will, hopefully, allow pubs in Dublin to follow suit in a couple of weeks' time.

What I said at my Parliamentary Party meeting, which I am sorry was not webcast, was that I believed that rural pubs should be allowed to open and that the Government was working on a plan to do exactly that. The Taoiseach felt the same. I have never suggested that there was a difference between us on that matter because there was not. Others made that suggestion, what is their agenda?

See this speech in context