Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Widespread guidance has issued to employers and intensive care facilities have good air quality and so on. Ventilation is important and that has always been advised from the beginning of the pandemic. There have been arguments about the specific types of ventilation and I gave the Deputy SAGE’s perspective on HEPA filters yesterday, for example, which was interesting.

Deputy Kelly raised the social dialogue. LEEF has a lot of streams to it and it is going well. The aviation stream, construction and collective bargaining are all going well. Much good and substantive work is being done under the auspices of LEEF on substantive issues. We are building up the engagement and dialogue with the environmental NGOs and partners, with agriculture and I initiated an engagement on fishing as well. We will be bringing forward proposals on the recognition of front-line emergency workers in respect of the pandemic.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn raised the mica issue and I said that we wanted to take politics out of this issue. The Minister is adamant about the role of the Society of Chartered Surveyors. He has made that clear, most recently in his conversations with the representative bodies of homeowners. We want to do the right thing by homeowners and we want to make sure we can comprehensively assist them in getting their houses rebuilt or repaired, whichever is optimal for them.

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