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

Our thoughts and prayers go to the families of those 444 people who have died and to everyone who is currently suffering from this virus in hospital, particularly in intensive care, or in any other setting. Our thoughts go out to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald. We wish her a very speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back here. Our best wishes go to Deputy Alan Kelly and to the Labour Party under his new leadership.

My sense is that the Irish people are still acting very strongly, collectively and with real solidarity in response to this threat. There was much discussion in the early stages as to whether there would be fatigue in terms of the response. I do not have a sense of that. It is very hard to have a collective sense because we are all locked down in our own areas, but speaking from Dublin Bay South and the areas within 2 km of it, my sense is that we are all still really committed. The vast majority is engaging in a huge exercise of solidarity to protect our people. I hope that gives encouragement to the people working at the front line of this crisis. I include all the officials, the HSE, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, every nurse, doctor and care worker and every person working on the front line in every retail store, who is not locked down because of the nature and importance of their jobs. We have to thank them for the work they are doing.

Maybe one of the reasons there is still no fatigue is that the numbers in the last week were - I will be honest - slightly disappointing. In the previous week it seemed that they were coming down and we were on the right track, but they bumped up by a certain amount in the last week. The critical issue of the number coming into intensive care units, ICUs, which we really need to look at, is still holding good. But we see the numbers of people dying.

There was confusion and delay in our testing system which did not help public confidence. That has reinforced a sense of commitment to the next two and a half weeks of lockdown through which we must go.

I advise the Government that it is vital that we get testing, tracing and isolation mechanisms in place because they are needed if we are to be able to open things up. We can fixate on exact numbers but we need a target of having 15,000-plus tests a day ready to go, in place, and provide a rapid response and follow-up. We must get contact tracing and isolation right in the next two weeks so that, if we are to start loosening restrictions, we know we will have the ability to dampen down outbreaks of the virus where they take place.

I have one suggestion to make without in any way trying to second-guess officials or others, which is that the widespread wearing of masks is advisable as we start to loosen restrictions. That seems to be part of the equation in other countries. The German Government is advising that all people wear masks in public places. We should start thinking about that. If we are to open restrictions in two weeks' time and people begin leaving their homes, we must prepare and the wearing of masks should be a part of our armoury in tackling this horrible virus.

I echo the various commentators who have suggested that, in making decisions about economic recovery, we should favour our young people as best we can in a variety of ways. We must look for certainty about the timing of the leaving certificate examinations and I hope they will happen sooner rather than later. We also need certainty about attendance at colleges at the end of this year and the start of the new term. We should also identify areas in which young people are working - the construction sector, for example - and favour the reintroduction of young people into the workforce. That will help lift all our spirits. My sense is that young people have played their part during this time. They are self-policing and acting responsibly. It is appropriate that we try to get those young people back into ordinary life this summer, as best we can.

I am pleased that the Government has today joined ten other countries in supporting a European green deal. I support the comments made by the Tánaiste yesterday regarding the disgraceful decision by the US Administration apparently to withdraw funding from the World Health Organization at this time.

I turn to consider care workers and front-line workers. We need to learn and make sure we come out of this crisis with changed economic values in our approach to the economy during the period of economic recovery. People in supply chains, from the farmer to the person putting food onto our shelves and making sure that we have basic needs, have been critical and heroic. Their work has allowed the rest of us to stay at home. We must recognise that and ensure that we pay those people properly in the new economy as it grows.

See this speech in context