Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the husband, daughter, family and friends of the late Ruth Morrissey on her tragic passing. She was a woman who was failed as a result of the negligence of the State. Regrettably, the apology to her has come too late.

What is the current strategy being pursued by the Government in respect of Covid-19? Until recently, the State followed public health advice, went into lockdown and largely succeeded in avoiding complete catastrophe. There have been many tragic deaths, but matters could have been so much worse. There is now widespread concern among the public that there is drift and that we risk undoing the hard work that has been done and sacrifices that have been made by so many over the past four months. In recent weeks, while we have been getting to grips with community transmission and opening up the country, it has become clear that the big weakness is the failure to control the importation of the virus from abroad. There is now major confusion about international travel. Promising to announce a green list of countries regarded as safe while at the same time advising against all non-essential travel is inherently contradictory. Of far greater concern is the Government's ambiguity regarding travel from countries that will not be on the green list. I refer to those countries that are regarded as unsafe due to a high prevalence of the virus. Not only has the Government operated a self-isolation policy which has been largely unenforceable in recent months, but, inexplicably, in the past couple of weeks the travel advice has changed.

It has been weakened for those countries. Incoming travellers are now advised merely to restrict their movements. This poses a great risk to our health, the lives of our vulnerable and to the economy. The priority now must be to create the circumstances which will allow us to reopen the schools in September and get our domestic economy fully operating. Controlling inward travel would allow us to do that. There are many good models of that kind of approach around the world, New Zealand being the most obvious example. That kind of approach has been called for by our Chief Medical Officer and by Professor Gabriel Scally, several other doctors and a great many in the scientific community. Phase 4 has been delayed because the numbers presenting with the virus have been rising. On what basis does the Taoiseach now expect the case numbers to reduce?

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