Order of Business
The Order of Business is proposed, and the Chair invites contributions. Senator Chambers supports the Leas-Chathaoirleach election and welcomes the Covid app launch.
The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the taking of the Order of Business, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business without debate; and Nos. 2 and 3, motions regarding the election of the Leas-Chathaoirleach, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 1 and to be discussed together.
Comment on this
I am pleased to support the election of the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the nominee going forward.
I note that the HSE Covid app has gone live today. When I departed Mayo this morning to come to Seanad Éireann, there were just over 17,000 registered users of the app.
When I opened it just now, there were more than 250,000 users of the app. It is an extremely important step in our fight against Covid. I hope the app will prove useful in tracing contacts and will help us in the weeks and months ahead as we continue to fight this pandemic. It is worth noting that a lot of work has gone into making this app user-friendly and available to all citizens. That is positive.
I note that some concerns have been raised with regard to data protection. There seem to be good assurances, however, that the app is safe to use. For what it is worth, I believe it is worth giving it a go and trying it out. The more people who sign up for and use this app, the more it will help us trace contacts very quickly. I say this in light of the increasing pressures to open things up faster with regard to international travel and people moving between counties and in and out of the country. We need to ensure that there are robust mechanisms in place to deal with this. I believe we would all agree that, given that nearly all of the legislation we will be debating in the House in the coming weeks is related to Covid, our first priority should be to do all we can to protect our country and our citizens from a second wave. It is interesting that this useful tool was launched today.
I look forward to today's business and to debating the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2020 on Thursday. This Bill will be important in helping our country and our businesses to get back up on their feet, protecting jobs.