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

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this proposed legislation, which I totally and absolutely oppose. The people in the county I represent, from Cordal to Cahersiveen and from Brosna to Ballinskelligs, are opposed to it. The hard-working publicans who have been denied their right to work are completely opposed to it. This is an attempt by the Government to terrorise, demonise, criminalise and put down the hard-working publicans to whom they have denied the right to work. Governments, health agencies and authorities in other countries in Europe have all seen fit to allow publicans in those countries to open their doors. In this State, for some unknown reason, the hatred which some politicians in the last Government and in this Government have for publicans is coming to the fore. At a time when there are so many other things the Government could be doing, it is bringing this legislation before the House and there are legislators here who will support it.

For what reason is this being done? Publicans' doors are shut but the Government is dreaming up ways of hurting them before they are even allowed to open those doors. Publicans have been pushed around, pulled around and dragged around for so long during this pandemic, one would swear they were the cause of it. The exact opposite is the case. These are responsible people whose businesses are regulated. They go before the courts every 12 months to get their licences renewed, which enables them to continue to operate. I am pleading with the members of the Government to come off their high horses, to leave the publicans alone and to let them do what they are good at, which is running good houses. I wish to declare an interest in this matter through a connected person, namely, my brother, who has run a good public house for many decades. I hope he and all the other people like him will be allowed the opportunity to continue doing what they are good at, which is giving out drink to their customers in a regulated way.

The Government seems to think this issue is the one it should be concentrating on and that bringing this legislation through is the only thing it should be doing. Is there any hope in the world that it might think about travel agents, whose businesses are falling down around their ears as they do everything they can to take care of their customers? Will the Government think about doing something for them? Would it think about complying with the pledge it gave on 26 June regarding the proposal to proceed with the Shannon LNG facility, a pledge on which it subsequently rowed back at the request of the Green Party? Is there any chance the Government might honour its commitment to establish an Exchequer-funded task force to examine this issue? Will it now agree to honour the promise it made to the people of Kerry, Limerick and west Clare in respect of the Shannon LNG facility? Then again, it would probably break such a promise in the same way the promise made by members of this Government during the election was broken immediately when the Green Party asked that it be done.

Is there any chance the Government might think of the parents who have been contacting me to say their children cannot get a place on the school bus because the Government, in its infinite wisdom, has reduced capacity from 100% to 50% and stopped dealing with the people who are looking to pay their fees and get a seat for their child on a bus? I want to compliment the people involved in the provision of school transport in Kerry, including the bus inspectors and bus drivers, who have always done an excellent job. The current situation is not their fault. It was the Government and the Department which decided at the last minute, after letting months and months go by, to cut capacity to 50% and leave parents and students high and dry on the side of the road with no way of getting to school. Would the Government ever start thinking about things like that?

Before it proceeds to take this legislation through the House, will the Government think of the hard-working members of An Garda Síochána? Members of Garda management will tell one readily that they have enough to be doing and they do not need legislators coming in here dreaming up airy-fairy ways of penalising publicans and expecting gardaí to go out an implement those measures. They have enough to be getting on with and they are doing their level best. I am speaking for the gardaí in County Kerry who have always represented us and done their job in an excellent and hard-working fashion. I commend each and every one of them but God knows they have enough to be doing without legislators coming in here for a couple of days to pass these measures.

This legislation is fundamentally wrong because it is attacking a sector of society whose members have genuinely worked hard and are taxpayers and revenue collectors. They are under the thumb of Revenue, collecting VAT and excise duty on a monthly basis for the Exchequer. What thanks do they get for it? They are being penalised, criminalised and demonised for no good reason, health-wise or any other wise. Where is the health and medical evidence which proves that if our pubs were allowed to open, it would do one scintilla of harm to any man, woman or child in this State?

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