Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two items. First, I have previously raised the pandemic payment for duties performed during Covid-19, which front-line workers so thoroughly deserved. I ask the Deputy Leader to contact the Minister and the Secretary General of the Department. I raised this with the Minister at committee today. Aramark employees who worked at University Hospital Galway have not received the pandemic payment. This is despite the payment being announced, agreed at Cabinet and - I hope - paid out to a majority of people across the country. The Minister said he personally met these workers when he was in Galway and promised them they were entitled to the payment, but they still have not received it. I ask the Deputy Leader to intervene on this matter because they put in the shifts in difficult circumstances and they are entitled to that payment.

Second, I ask the Deputy Leader to contact the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about coming in to give an update on the waste action plan for a circular economy. The domestic compost bins, or brown bins, service is a great service in urban and many rural areas across the country and assists in reducing bills and the amount of waste going to rubbish tips. The service is available in urban areas and areas with a population of more than 500 so small communities where there are a number of estates qualify. However, outlying areas, including rural roads encompassing Moycullen, Rosscahill and Oughterard in my area, would not qualify because this service is determined on a townland basis and very few townlands in rural areas have a population of more than 500. It is sort of an arbitrary boundary perhaps around a town plan, and the rural areas around that are not covered. I ask that the service be rolled out to all of those areas. I know that is the vision of the Department but it needs to be expedited under the waste action plan for a circular economy.