Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

A growing number of millionaires and billionaires and their cheerleaders in the media and the Dáil are calling for vital public health restrictions to be loosened more quickly so that the economy can fully re-open and they can resume making their profits. Leading the charge, unsurprisingly, has been Michael O'Leary of Ryanair, a notoriously bad employer, despite what the Minister might say. He has now graduated from bashing unions and driving down workers' pay and conditions to demanding an end to vital public health restrictions needed to protect us all from this pandemic. Two weeks ago, he took to the airwaves on both "Morning Ireland" and Newstalk to demand that social distancing be reduced from 2 m to 1 m. He attempted to dress this up with references to medical advice but anyone with an ounce of cop-on can see it is so that he can keep cramming people onto his planes. Dr. Gabriel Scally said in response that "I really don't think that Michael O'Leary is a good source of public health advice on the effectiveness or not of quarantine" and added "I think he might have a vested interest." I agree with Dr. Scally. In this Chamber a few weeks ago, the Minister admitted to me that the last time the airline industry made demands of him with regard to coronavirus, he bent the knee and wrote to the European Commission asking for the airline industry to be allowed to rip off the public by offering vouchers instead of cash refunds. Does the Minister support the public health advice from NPHET on maintaining 2 m social distance or has he been one of the Ministers clamouring behind closed doors for restrictions to be loosened in order that Michael O'Leary and the rest of his class can maximise their profits?

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