Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste. What the Government has done is create another problem. These small businesses that were looking forward to standing on their own legs next Monday and opening their doors will now be faced with the financial burden of another 25 days with the doors closed. What proposals does the Government have, and I am not talking about loans but grants and substantial assistance to be made available to these businesses, to allow them to carry on their businesses when the Government eventually decides to let them open? Now the Tánaiste is saying it will be 10 August. I received many calls late last night and very early this morning from people asking how sure we are the Government will actually allow that because it has broken its word already. The Government raised their hopes which was a horrible thing to do. The message that has gone out now throughout the world is that people can come from a hot spot but they cannot have a hot drop because the Government has left the doors closed. It is a poor decision. If I thought that it was a good idea medically of course I would be behind it but I do not.

Particularly in rural Ireland, we feel as though we are being blamed and getting the brunt of the anger the Government had when it saw what happened on Dame Lane-----

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