Mr. Liam Herrick:

I thank the Deputy. As far as we are concerned, this is not a question of whether specific restrictions may or may not be needed in the coming months. There is no doubt that the pandemic is not over and there is an ongoing threat. Rather, the question for us is whether the Oireachtas wants to allow the Minister for Health to retain unlimited power to make regulations without consulting it or whether it will reassert its role in scrutinising and being consulted on the introduction of those restrictions.

The recommendations of the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response refer to the Minister being obliged to lay regulations before the House and such regulations lapsing if they are not approved by the Houses. The same recommendations were made by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, and, indeed, by ourselves and the Trinity College Dublin Covid observatory. We have always supported the need for certain restrictions and we recognise that there is an ongoing public health challenge. We believe, however, it is essential for our democracy that the Oireachtas has the primary function. Now that the Oireachtas is fully and effectively functioning and is able to sit, and committees such as this are able to meet, we do not see any justification for the Minister to retain the unlimited power he has had since March 2020.