Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether the Government is serious about the pandemic. While pub and shop owners, families and everyone else have suffered, people continue to be allowed into the country from abroad. The Taoiseach said earlier that the people are law abiding and that is, of course, true. However, they are also furious at what is happening at the ports and airports. The Taoiseach knows, because he was there, that I have been asking NPHET, Dr. Holohan and others, from the very start, about the ports and airports remaining open. Deputy Shortall asked how many personnel had been assigned to those locations but she was not given an answer. The Government was trying to fool the Irish people. We are expected to take all the medicine while, at the same time, people from areas with scary Covid numbers are let into the country by aeroplane. The Taoiseach is saying that the number involved is limited but it is not fair to business people, publicans, shop owners and their families that they are being treated in this way. Pub owners need to know when they can open. Above all, if we do not seal the airports and stop people coming in from abroad, the results will be tragic.

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