Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an gCeann Comhairle agus le gach Comhalta as an obair stairiúil a rinne siad.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for recalling us today and for convening our meeting of the Business Committee this morning. These are pretty strange and difficult times.

I acknowledge the Taoiseach's address and the work he, the Minister, Deputy Harris, Dr. Tony Holohan and others are doing, and all their supporters, staff and advisers, as well as all public servants, both indoors and outdoors, who have continued to work under enormous strain and difficulties and are ag déanamh a ndícheall. Ní neart go cur le cheile. As has been said here this morning, it is a very important phrase. There is a sense of a meitheal, as I said last week. It is a huge, Herculean effort. It has to be done to defeat this beast worldwide. It knows no borders and respects no boundaries. People might think it is for people of my age and older. It certainly is not. We have seen that and I thank the media for the responsible way they have handled this, especially RTÉ and indeed our local print media and radio stations. Without those, we would not be able to function in rural Ireland. They are of huge benefit and must be supported. I am glad to see the Minister for Finance here and thank him too. At these times, we see and know the value of those institutions. People trust them now as if they were the Bible. They trust the local radio, having built up that relationship with them and with the local papers.

I thank and commend all the front-line workers. That goes for the nurses, and student nurses who have to be looked after too when they are called up. I raised this with the Minister, Deputy Harris, two weeks ago. A mechanism should be found under which they can be remunerated because they are answering the call of duty and putting themselves at risk. We have to ensure that PPE is available. I saw a wonderful story the other night from a small business in Donegal. It changed from making garments for the clergy to making protective gowns. It is a wonderful initiative. We must find those entrepreneurs and use them. They are ready, willing and able to do this. We must not have nurses, doctors, consultants, surgeons or anyone of any rank being forced to buy their own protective equipment and, worst of all, being unable to get it. The Dáil is back today for specific legislation. Deputy O'Donoghue and I represent the Rural Independent Group and we are supportive of the measures in this legislation. We are willing, ready and able to engage at all times and to help in any way that we can to try to sort this out.

As for the issue of the private hospitals, of course this had to be done. People have complained to my office about it. It had to be done. This is an emergency time and must be treated as such, then we will return to normal. Valuable lessons will have been learned from this whole episode when we return to normal. Will normal ever be the same again? Maybe not. Will there be a mad rush for the commercialism that has taken over much in our society in recent decades? It is now that we see the value of local people helping one another. I encountered Séamie Morris this morning, a postman from Nenagh, and discussed the work An Post is doing. Postal workers provide that help every day. A blind eye is turned to it but they have that relationship and special bond.

We must think of the farming community and, in the same breath, of rural isolation. Farming has become a very lonely profession. When I was young, there were 13 or 14 around the kitchen table at lunch time. Now it is a different scenario. Many people have gone from the land. A farmer may be on his own and his wife may be working, perhaps as a front-line worker in nursing. We must think of them now and their difficulties with livestock. With the marts being closed, we must find a mechanism. Beef Plan Ireland has come up with a worthwhile app and I appeal to the Minister to look at it. It needs funding to get it up and running. People could engage with trusted sources to buy and sell their livestock by using this app. There is a huge population of calves now, since we have just finished the calving season, and the lambing season is about to start. Nature and farming must continue. Cows must be milked. We need the milk, the meat and the food supply chains too.

I thank the Road Haulage Association. I believe that the RSA should be asked to close down NCT centres. I raised this at the sub-committee on Monday with the Taoiseach and others. The waiting rooms are too small and are just not suitable. That is a quasi-national body and centres all operate to the same standard.

They are just not suitable. I have had many calls from people waiting in those waiting rooms. The centres are only carrying out half the test at the moment anyway because it is not possible to inspect underneath the car. It should be suspended. It is not that I want anyone to drive recklessly - I do not - but we cannot ask people to self-isolate and take precautions with regard to distancing in these cases. There is not 2 m from one corner of these rooms to the other. I believe they are all standard. I have only been in two but they were standard. The Road Safety Authority must shut them down. Farm inspections must also be ceased by the relevant agencies. These bodies should be supporting self-employed hauliers and farmers. Every category of self-employed person - Deputy Grealish mentioned some - must be helped and supported.

I would also like to mention our clergy at this time. Regardless of denomination, people are flocking to church online services. I compliment the parishes of Tipperary and the many others which have been holding online services and looking at imaginative ways to put on extra services. It is only the clergy in the church but they are broadcasting to thousands. People are taking great solace from that, which they need. Goodness knows we need prayer now more than ever. People of all denominations and none are helping. It is an interesting time from that point of view.

We have seen the difficulties with regard to childcare. Efforts are being made. As the Government makes an effort to solve one problem, another arises. We have to be forbearing and understanding and give the Government a chance to work through these issues because its efforts all have different unintended consequences. I am forever asking for impact analyses of how the normal legislation we pass here beds in. I like to call this wartime legislation because it is a war. It is a war against this virus and we must treat it as such. We must also support An Garda Síochána. It is wonderful to see retired members of An Garda and the armed forces volunteering to come back. They have great and valuable expertise. In addition, some 50,000 people have offered to work in the front-line services of the HSE. We would not normally see the likes of that. Mr. Paul Reid has told us that it would normally take a year to do some things which have now been done in a couple of days. Red tape is being cut through but that could not be done without the goodwill of staff, management, public servants and front-line staff. We must note that.

I will move onto another issue. I hate to divert a little but I wish to refer to a very important and vital service, the community air ambulance based in the south west, and to the funding crisis it faces. It runs almost totally on revenue from fundraising. It cannot fundraise in these times and is quickly running out of money. I plead with the Ministers for Finance and Health to find some money to keep it running. It carries out contracts for the State every day and rescues people in remote areas who could not be rescued by road. We need it.

The South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association, SEMRA, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and all such agencies are in a similar situation. I saw SEMRA out yesterday morning. Somebody had fallen in a wood and got hurt. These bodies are, and will be, on call but I ask people not to put themselves in the way of danger, forcing them to go out. Their members should not have to put themselves in danger. They have to look after themselves as well.

I will make another appeal to the Minister with regard to an issue with which the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is trying to deal. Many hundreds of our people are in Australia and other countries. Some are students on work permits and short-term visas and are working on farms which are being closed down. They are penniless and cannot get home. Some have got money together for flights but cannot get home. There is also a sizeable cohort of experienced nurses, paramedics and doctors who want to come back to work on the front line here. We must get chartered planes to fly them home to Ireland. They are going from one airport to another only to find them closing because of the lockdowns. We need those people here now. They want to come. They have decided to come back to make an impression here and to answer our need.

This is Ireland's call. We might sing a song of that name at rugby games, but this is a call for people to come out and support one another. It is in the interest of every man, woman and child in the State to look after one another - our siblings, our grandparents, and everybody else belonging to us. I have no time for the galoots or yahoos who spit at gardaí or those working in front-line services. That must be dealt with and dismissed. It should not be allowed to spread on social media. It is anathema to the 99.9% of people who want to do good, to do right, to help and to be supportive of each other in this time of crisis.

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