Rhun ap Iorwerth: I would like to thank everybody involved in the vaccination process in Wales, which is clearly on the right track and that's something that we should celebrate. I was over in the vaccination centre in Ysbyty Enfys in Bangor yesterday, at the invitation of the health board, and it's useful to be able to see for ourselves in order to give comfort to some people who may be still concerned about...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much. I'm pleased to participate in this debate. At a personal level, I've truly enjoyed learning more about end-of-life care in the past few years, working very closely with Marie Curie and Hospice UK, but we rarely have time to discuss this in the Senedd, so I'm pleased that we have the opportunity to do it today. It's such an important area, and that's reflected in how many...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: In the waters around Anglesey and the Menai straits, we produce mussels and oysters of the very, very highest quality. Almost all our mussels—the vast majority—are exported to the European Union. I was speaking to a representative of the mussel industry today. There is desperate concern about the impact that we are now seeing of the failure to prepare properly for EU exit, and everything...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: A few comments on dissolution, first of all, which is intended to give fairness to all candidates to ensure that public resources can't be abused. It's a mechanism too to ensure fairness and balance between the Government of the day and the opposition parties through the purdah convention, and the aim, of course, is to ensure the integrity of the election. It has to be there. The risk of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I will emphasise the obvious first of all: the timetable for this Bill is very tight indeed. This should have happened sooner, and there is concern that there is a lack of opportunity now to give proper consideration to the issues arising from the explanatory memorandum and the legislation committee's report too—and I congratulate them for turning that report around over night, as I...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I have no comments to make on these regulations.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you to the Minister for the statement. Thank you to Mark Isherwood on behalf of the Conservatives for emphasising how poorly Wales has been served by the UK over a period of years too. We are talking, in these early years in terms of Welsh taxation, about something that is historic—it's a word that I've used and others have also used. And...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you for the statement. I'm also very pleased to see the ground that's been gained in terms of the vaccination process in Wales. There are enthusiastic teams of vaccinators in all parts of the country, and I hear very positive reports of the experience that people have in accessing the vaccine, and that's to be welcomed. I will ask the first question...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Laura, for the opportunity to say a few words. This is an issue that is very close to my heart. All-weather facilities are so very important. I've played and coached on 3G pitches, including playing for the Senedd on the Arms Park in Cardiff, and there's a 3G pitch in Llangefni that has enabled us as a rugby club to train youngsters through the very worst weather that Anglesey can...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We will be voting against the Conservative motion today. I agree with many elements of it. I do regret the slow start of the plan in Wales, although things are now speeding up. But on one specific point—. Well, (1) I don't want to take any lessons from the way in which the Government in England have dealt with the pandemic, but (2) I specifically don't think that we need a dedicated...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to everyone who has participated in this very important debate. I would like to thank the Stroke Association for the work they have done over the last few months. The document on stroke recoveries at risk that was produced back in September is a very valuable contribution in terms of measuring the impact of the pandemic on services....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Those whose jobs depend on the port of Holyhead will pay the price if changing trading patterns leads to a loss of trade permanently, shifting to direct passage. Whilst December stockpiling may be a part of the reasons for what's happened, the pandemic also, the elephant on that near-empty vehicle deck is the huge increase in trade on those direct routes. I think trade through Rosslare is up...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Minister make a statement on the impact that leaving the European Union has had on the Port of Holyhead?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Yes, I will. The virus has proved that it can be a master of us all, and it's still very influential in our daily lives and our democratic decisions at the moment.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Fair and free elections are the foundation of any healthy democracy, and it's about time that the people of Wales had an opportunity to give an injection of energy to this Senedd and to elect a new Government after a five-year term, which is already lengthy in comparative terms—too long in my view, but we're not here to discuss that today. It's not lightly that this Senedd is asked to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I will start with item 8 on international travel. We will support these regulations, as we have done every time as officials respond to the new evidence on risk levels in travelling to Wales from various nations and territories internationally. So, we will be supporting those regulations, and also supporting the regulations under item 9, which place requirements on retailers to strengthen...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'This includes a community pharmacy pilot'. A community pharmacy pilot.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: One—that was in the Llyn peninsula the week before last, I believe. We have over 600 community pharmacies, and we must ensure that they become part of the vaccination process as soon as possible. They want to participate. A pharmacist in my constituency in Valley contacted me over the past few days, saying, 'We want to do this, we are trained to do it, we have capacity to do it, let us do...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for the statement. May I first of all thank everyone—doctors, nurses, other vaccination workers, administrators in our health boards—who are all working so very hard to try and vaccinate our population? It's clear that the process has sped up, and we can all welcome that, but there is some way to go. In terms of this failure in hitting...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I wasn't expecting this. I'd given up on the hope of contributing. I wasn't going to speak for too long in any case, but I just wanted to say that we will be voting against this motion. I had thought that it was mostly a problem with the tone of the motion, but having listened to David Rowlands, there's clearly a deeper problem than that and we...
