I have written to the Taoiseach and Deputy Michael Collins and I raised the issue of people not being allowed to attend mass. There is a limit of 25 for a wedding or a funeral and nobody can go to the church for mass. There is a penal provision in the new Act to prosecute priests. This is the month of November, traditionally a time of the year in the Catholic faith where people pray for their dead and have masses. All other denominations are denied their right to worship as well. Will the Tánaiste please look at the regulations in view of the mental and physical health of people?

People need to be able to go to church. For elderly people, especially, it is their only outing. They love it and they can meet their friends. I do not know whether they can walk in and say a prayer but they cannot have a physical celebration of mass. The archbishops met the Taoiseach but it is falling on deaf ears. Will the Tánaiste please reconsider allowing people attend mass? Most churches are as big as this Chamber. Some of them are huge and there is good ventilation. Churches have made huge provisions for dealing with Covid, which have cost them a lot of money and for which they have got no support. People need to be allowed back to worship in all faiths, but I am talking today about the Catholic Church, especially in the month of November.

I thank the Deputy. As he mentioned, the Taoiseach met with the four Catholic archbishops to talk about what might be possible in the next couple of weeks. We are reluctant to change any of the regulations at the moment. I understand the point the Deputy is making about people being able to attend mass. In most countries it is allowed, for obvious reasons. It is allowed north of the Border but nearly every day there is one group or another making a good case as to why the rules should be relaxed, whether it is hunting, coursing, tennis, golf, gyms or children's clothes. We feel that if we start relaxing regulations on a piecemeal basis at the moment, that will undermine what we are trying to achieve and we do not want to do that, certainly at this stage. Level 5 is for six weeks. We made provision to allow people to visit graves. It is November, many people want to visit graves, and that is permitted, even if it is beyond 5 km.