Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As others have noted, our first thoughts have to be with those in this country who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus. Their tragedy is made all the worse because the culture in this country of coming together as a community for a funeral to support, help and carry one another through those difficult times is more challenging at this time. Our thoughts and prayers, therefore, are with them.

Our thoughts are also with the hundreds of thousands who have lost a job and who are uncertain of what will come next, not knowing how long the crisis may last, what may happen when things start to return to normal or whether their job will become available again. That sense of uncertainty in respect of the timeline of what we face applies also to those who are lonely because they are isolated at home. I refer especially to older people, who, in particular, have to hunker down and ensure for themselves that they are protected. They must have a strong sense of uncertainty as to how long the circumstances will last. We have been able to manage the past two weeks well as a country, but we need to give people some sense that in managing it well, the period will be shorter and we will come out of it on the other side. Many people were inspired by Dr. Mike Ryan, an executive director at the World Health Organization who has led the global response to the pandemic. His advice to governments, as I recall it a week or two ago, was to act fast. He said we should not be afraid of making mistakes but instead should be willing to get ahead of the virus in everything we do. He went on to say we should throw everything at the virus, without worrying all the time about whether we have all the right pieces in place, and that we should move fast. I commend the Government, the public service and ourselves as an Oireachtas on the fact that, in effect, that is what we in the House are doing today for the second time. We are passing emergency legislation at speed even though it may have flaws or aspects we may have to amend or change. Nevertheless, it is better to act fast than with certainty.

By and large, our country's response has been good, although it is almost impossible to do well in such difficult circumstances. It is hard to know exactly how well we are doing, given that we are all self-isolating, although we are probably doing so to a lesser extent than others because we have to attend sittings in the Chamber. In any contact I have had with people in recent weeks, however, at a distance of 2 m, my sense has been that we as a people - most, if not all, of us - are doubling down on the measures and complying. For those who may fear there are exceptions to that, whereby some people are not obeying the new social norm, I might give some reassurance through what Dr. Tony Holohan, the Chief Medical Officer, told the party leaders at the consultation last week.

He said that as long as most of us are doing it most of the time, it will work. Let us not get obsessed with some fool who is perhaps not applying the norm. Most of us are and that gives us some confidence that we will be strong, as a country, and we will be good on this path of suppressing the virus which we have set ourselves upon.

In terms of speed, there is obviously concern in regard to the rolling out of testing. We have done the right thing by ramping up ambition but maybe, to date, have not been able to match that with the speed of the testing we need to do. I hope that improves and I have confidence in our public service to make that improve in the coming days. With regard to contact tracing, as Deputy Martin and others said earlier, we will see the benefit we are getting from that contact tracing and see that we are adhering to the advice as a people.

I have consistently been saying to Dr. Holohan and other officials that we also need to work on the isolation part. There may be many people who have the virus but who do not have easy self-isolation facilities in their own homes and we need to provide facilities for those people. We particularly have to consider those in direct provision centres or nursing homes where the capability for such isolation is particularly difficult. They should be our first priority. It is in congregations or settings where it is not easy to provide this isolated protection that most of our efforts must be. I was encouraged by Dr. Holohan saying that our contact tracing staff, as we get new volunteers coming in, are the real experts in concentrating on those clusters where the risks are greatest, which is the right approach.

I also hope and pray that that aeroplane does come in on Sunday and we get all the personal protective equipment, PPE, that our front-line health officials so badly need. I am encouraged that those 300 workers are now, hopefully, at work on the production line at Medtronic in Galway and turning out those ventilators, not just for us but also for other countries. We have to do is in a collaborative way and be part of an international response.

I want to pay tribute to the cleaners around this country. I was coming up to corridor to the Dáil and Mandy was outside cleaning one of the balustrades. That is life-saving work and it is critical to what we need to do. I was at a petrol pump this morning on the way in and there was someone cleaning the pump nozzle. It is that front-line work that is life-saving. It is that response which is going to make us strong and successful in this country.

I want to pay credit particularly to the staff in the health system. We listened to the Minister, Deputy Harris, and others say we are probably still in the calm before the real storm hits. We have to make sure staff have that PPE and the necessary ventilators. I understand it goes beyond that and that they also need to have oxygen supplies and additional beds. There are so many logistics but we still have a short few days left before the real wave of cases hits. We need to support our staff and thank them for the work they are doing.

Just as we need to move fast and heed Dr. Mike Ryan in addressing the health side, we also need to act fast in protecting our economy. I agree with Deputy Martin that Mario Draghi gives the right advice in saying not to be too worried or cautious. This is the time for a real Keynesian economic approach and for massive additional borrowing to provide income support, which is what we are legislating for here today. I will be honest. We are legislating slightly in the unknown in that we do not have the full figures. As we ramp up as an Oireachtas in managing this crisis, I would love to hear the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council give us some advice, as best it can, on what are the mechanisms.

See this speech in context