Marian Harkin calls for grants for small businesses and non-COVID care

Thank you, Ken Corlett. Thank you, Taoiseach. I want to raise two issues with you this morning. Earlier, you spoke about the 1.57 trillion EU budget, which is to front load a response to COVID-19, and the 540 billion, which is there to support both the social and an economic recovery. And we need to do the same in this country, support a social and economic recovery. Now, your government has put a number of programmes in place, and some of them are working well. But however, significant gaps still remain. Taoiseach, on many occasions, both of yourself and the relevant ministers, I have asked that the government would look at putting in place some small-scale grant aid for small businesses who see a mounting wall of debt as they remain closed. Whether that's insurance, utility bills, rent, etc. Because it will give hope to those businesses that maybe, in phase two or three or four, they can reopen. Because they know, at that point, especially in the hospitality sector, that it will be survival. And if they already are carrying debt, that means they are less likely to think in terms of reopening. But a small level of grant aid could make a significant difference. And I raised this issue also with Minister Ring yesterday, around community groups, voluntary groups, trying to keep community centres afloat. They are dotted throughout the country. They are the lifeblood of communities. Very often it's crèches, or language schools, or dancing classes, or whatever, that bring them in a little bit of money to keep them afloat. But they too are facing rising utility bills. And they have no way of making any income to help them. So what I'm asking you is, as part of our social and economic recovery, could we look at some small levels of grant aid for those kinds of businesses and community enterprises? And also, Taoiseach, those businesses who don't pay rates are locked out of the restart grants. Can you look at that? My second issue, and again, I've raised it, I think this is the fourth time in the chamber with both you and the Minister for Health, and that's around healthcare for non-COVID patients. I did ask for flexibility in the consultant's contract and changes to the private hospital contract, and I am happy with your decision to end that contract. However, it's in place until the end of June. That's 25 full days. If you're waiting for a biopsy, if you're in pain, those 25 full days make a huge difference. So I just want to ask, is there any possibility that in the intervening period, any flexibility can be shown, any changes can be made to give those people hope that they can get into hospital? And also, I do want to say that in the beginning, you moved quickly, and that was the right thing to do. But I now want to ask you Taoiseach to inject the same sense of urgency into the rapidly building non-COVID healthcare emergency as you did into the COVID emergency. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy. Taoiseach. Thanks, Deputy. Just in relation to support for small business, you know, there is the reopening grant of up to €10,000, which is available to small businesses to help them reopen. Rates are waived for three months. There's the wage subsidy scheme, which pays a lot of the salaries and wages of people who work in small businesses. In utilities, you only pay for the utilities you pay for, but the companies have agreed a suspension. But we are going to look at doing more. And one of the things we are looking at is something you specifically raised, which are, you know, businesses or places that don't pay rates. So I'd be aware of a few, for example, local tourist attractions or museums around the country that are charitable and they don't pay rates. But they need money to reopen just as much as anyone else does. So that's one of the things we are examining. And perhaps we can do something a little bit better with the reopening grant. So, you know, what we've done, we've done. It's not the end of it. We're going to have to do more. And we accept that. And if you have any specific polls you want to make, we will examine them. Just in relation to private patients needing care in June in private hospitals, you know, I think we should be aware that it is not impossible for private patients to be brought into private hospitals by their private consultants. The fact that is happening. They just can't be charged. And there are consultants who have accepted the state contract 4000 euros a week, not a small amount of money, and are seeing those patients pro bono in private hospitals. That's what they should do. But they do. Thank you. We have this podcast. We work for our clients. We work for our clients. We work for our clients. We work for our clients. We work for drains Tell us for our clients. Are not społec would we give and buy a derivation right now in Spanish to speak?