Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We're in a slightly odd position here today. We're debating a petition, as we've just been told, that arose primarily on one weekend on a small but very controversial aspect of a 17-day firebreak that was designed to protect our NHS and to save lives, and which the early indications suggest has indeed had a dampening effect on the spiralling increases in the rise of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, thank you for this statement and clarification today. I think there'll be some people who will criticise you for not waiting longer, there will be others who will say you waited too long. I just think you had to make the decision, and you've looked at the evidence and decided the best way forward, and a judgment call had to be made. At least now we've got certainty and clarity for...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, we're in such strange times at the moment, and sporting events are not immune from the impacts of the coronavirus measures, but it is important to look to the future with some hope. So, my thanks to keen cyclist Geraint Rowlands for his suggestion, which has led me to ask whether we can have a debate on hosting future major sports events in Wales and, in particular, with the three...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, just north of the M4, just north of Bridgend, is an often-overlooked gem of the Ogmore valleys, where not only is it a real destination for day visitors and tourists for adventure tourism, with the Afan Argoed park, and so on, and the hills along the drovers' route, walking up onto the Bwlch mountain, but we also have little communities of yurt accommodation, we have caravan and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, you'll know that I chair the Senedd co-operative group—a great bunch of people there. So, can I ask, now that we're rightly, I have to say, taking greater control of the rail franchise in Wales, whether Welsh Government will now seek to embed mutual principles in the governance of the Wales and borders rail franchise, giving a greater say to rail users and rail workers, and look...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I wonder if I can ask for one statement, Minister. I'd like to ask for a Welsh Government statement to give clarity on both the legality and the morality of employers using workers' return to work after days away from work due to isolation as an automatic trigger for disciplinary measures on sickness absence, and also employers who refuse to acknowledge a phone call from test and trace to an...
Huw Irranca-Davies: It's a pleasure to follow Joyce in this important debate in support of a blue-green recovery. I would argue strongly that we must have the data and analysis that underpins sustainable resource management, and that we should not only have marine protected areas, but some areas that are of a higher protected status and, crucially, that those MPAs are managed effectively. It's incredible now...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, thank you for that assurance that you do not want to keep these closed for residential visits for a minute more than is necessary, and that, once safe, we will get back to having residential visits. She will know that, for many of us, outdoor education centres were the first time that we would have been immersed in an outdoor environment, and learnt through skills and confidence and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Let me begin just by welcoming the additional support that's come in yesterday. It's not going to help everyone, but it'll go a long, long way, I have to say, particularly the discretionary fund, to fill some of those gaps for people who've fallen between the stools so far. And I'm certainly speaking to local authority leaders in my area so that they can process the applications quickly and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I speak briefly in support of the main motion put forward in the names of Rebecca Evans and Siân Gwenllian. This is a moment when decisive leadership really matters: leadership at the top of Government, leadership in political parties, and leadership from us in the communities that we represent. And I commend the leadership that is being shown by the First Minister and by Welsh Government,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Now, there are bits of the Conservative motion that are pretty hard to disagree with: for example, 'that coronavirus restrictions that impact upon employers are proportionate.' Well, of course, the contrary would be to urge that the restrictions were disproportionate, which makes no sense. But I ask Conservative Members of this Senedd: proportionate to what? Proportionate to the scale of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank the Conservatives for tabling this debate today. It's a welcome focus on the impact of coronavirus on employers, though I do note with regret that there isn't a single mention in the whole of the motion of employees whatsoever. In fact, the only tangential mention is an attack on unions and on unionised workplaces. Now, this is perhaps to be expected, even though it's very...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, I spoke last week at the launch of the Living Streets Cymru manifesto for walking in Wales. They want all people in Wales to be able to breathe clean air and they want the next Government to prioritise the climate emergency, introduce a clean air Act for Wales and clean air zones all around Welsh schools, create more urban green spaces and green corridors where people can walk and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Sorry, Presiding Officer, the little button just came through to allow me to speak.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much. Could I first of all, as a member of the committee, just thank my colleagues on the committee and the Chair, and also the witnesses, for what has been some really, really interesting and thorough, as this committee always does, evidence that we've taken, trying to get this balance right on the security of tenure for tenants and, also, the balance of rights for landlords...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, can I genuinely say that I really welcome this and the actions that flow from it? In the nearly 20 years that I have been a representative here in Ogmore, this has grown and grown year after year in my constituency. I think that you are right in focusing on two aspects. One is a pragmatic way forward that works with local authorities, works with local communities and, I have to say,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Could we have a statement, Minister, on any discussions between Welsh Government Ministers and the Welsh Rugby Union and the Football Association of Wales on the support for club rugby and football in Wales? This is not simply a matter for professional governing bodies, but a matter of community cohesion and active sports participation, as well as sports heritage, particularly where these...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister—Deputy Minister—I've been pleased and deeply humbled to work alongside many of the volunteers in our own community working through the pandemic and it really shows the generosity of spirit and time that they put in. But that's happening throughout our communities: people like the Drive Cardiff Taxis co-operative, Paul and his colleagues there, who have been distributing free...
Huw Irranca-Davies: My thanks to my fellow committee members, and our Chair and our clerks, and especially those who gave evidence for helping us to bring forward wide-ranging recommendations in respect of our committee's report on inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing is crystal clear: the harsh social and economic inequalities that have always been present have sharpened as a result of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Acting Presiding Officer, thank you—I will try scaling Everest once again.
