Huw Irranca-Davies: Can you hear me?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. Thank you for a few moments to contribute to this debate. First of all, I'd like to take as my keystone for this contribution a word that Paul Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservative group in the Senedd, used earlier on in reference to this, which is the matter of hope. He said that people need hope through milestones and timescales. Actually, I'm not sure that that is...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I think I'm through now.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, beyond COVID-19, we're still facing a climate emergency, we have a biodiversity crisis, we have underlying deep social and economic inequality, we have companies that are not as ethical as others and do not pay their fair share of taxes, and so on. So, in the building back better, can I ask you to elaborate on this and what it would mean for a different type...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, Professor Cameron Hepburn of Oxford University recently brought together a team of world-renowned experts, including the Nobel prize winner, Professor Joseph Stiglitz and the well-known climate economist, Lord Nicholas Stern to examine the possible global COVID-19 economic recovery packages. Now, their analysis showed the potential for really powerful alignment between the economy...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. I hope you can hear me.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Could I ask you, First Minister, for your emerging thoughts on the work being taken forward by the Counsel General on rebuilding post COVD-19, and the similar work being developed by some of the big city mayors in England on the theme of 'building back better'? In this terrible ongoing tragedy of coronavirus, people have also seen, first-hand, the benefits of cleaner air, lower traffic, and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, I was delighted to hear that Wales was the first nation in the UK to announce that we will be providing free school meals to eligible pupils throughout the summer, by providing that £33 million to our local authorities, and that local authorities will have the flexibility to deliver the roughly £20 per child per week in the way that works best locally. And you've laid out three...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, we have some absolute heroics going on in the care sector at the moment—managers of care homes and front-line staff in domiciliary and residential care are going way beyond the call of duty. They're not just caring for our loved ones who are locked down and in isolation, but they're trying to adhere to physical distancing when working with residents with dementia and those who...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I've got few brief comments to make on the Bill, and in saying this, of course, I do recognise, as the Minister said, that this has been subject to immense consultation, and across three different committees in the Senedd, including the committee that I serve on under the eminent stewardship of John Griffiths. We looked at this in great detail, and I think my first point would be that, in...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Dai, thank you for raising that very important issue. Would you note, in amongst this, the fact that one in eight of the population now are likely to be diagnosed, particularly as they age in years, with prostate cancer, and the work of Prostate Cymru, which actually works on that issue of diagnosis with medical professionals of all types at all stages of their career, to actually make sure...
Huw Irranca-Davies: My apologies; I didn't realise my name was down. But, yes, I would like to ask a question relating to—
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. My request would be, knowing that we have an international strategy now that is looking at our links with other regions that have Celtic connections—the Basque Country, Catalonia, et cetera—whether or not we can indeed look at periodically, actually, flying, as we have today, those flags on a much more regular basis, and echoing what Neil Hamilton has...
Huw Irranca-Davies: On that very point, one of the interesting things the committee heard in evidence—and it's been a theme, actually, both in and outside the committee—is the need to strengthen our presence now in Brussels, curiously, after EU withdrawal, because of the necessity, the pragmatic necessity, of making sure that our voice is heard. And as we've severed some of the official links and the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Well done that man. But I think the audience we'd have, curiously, on the other side of the Atlantic would absolutely recognise his contribution. So there are real assets here that we can use and, Minister, if you haven't, I'm more than happy to show you around, down in my constituency, show you where he was born and see how we can use that sort of legacy. But, backing away from that, in...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I had intended to speak and it was going to be quite a dry speech, but I'm inspired now by some of the other Members. I will turn to the dry bit in a moment, but actually, if we're going to share experiences of how we can actually reach out to our wide global community, then can I suggest that we dwell on people such as Richard Price of Tyn Ton Farm in Llangeinor, whose ideas and philosophy...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, as we leave the European Union, the constructive engagement of the UK Government with the devolved Governments becomes even more critical. It is incumbent upon the UK Government to demonstrate at every opportunity that there is real depth and substance behind the rhetoric about respect for the devolved Governments. Equally, it is incumbent upon devolved Governments to demonstrate...
Huw Irranca-Davies: My days as a schoolboy hooker for Gowerton School first 15 are long behind me. In fact, my last outing was on the wing for the redoubtable Assembly rugby team, which does so much for charity and for raising awareness of important issues within Wales and elsewhere. But, could I say to the Deputy Minister, if the six nations disappears behind a pay wall, whether it's Amazon, Sky or anybody...
Huw Irranca-Davies: That's good to hear and, Deputy Presiding Officer, I should declare my interest as the vice-president of Ramblers Cymru—proudly as the vice-president of Ramblers Cymru. Has she had the opportunity as Minister to go out with the Ramblers to see the new app that underpins this campaign? I've used it myself on my local paths. You can swipe from left to right. Apparently, you can do that with...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, the—[Interruption.]
