Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Canney. I apologise to the Ceann Comhairle for my error in regard to the scheduling of speaking times.

It is really disappointing that such draconian laws need to be brought in to deal with a small handful of irresponsible proprietors of so-called restaurants and gastropubs. These premises are supposed to be operating on the basis of serving alcohol with food rather than putting a €9 plate of cold sausages on a table to justify allowing people to drink all night. It reminds me of discussions we had in this House in the past relating to the definition of the "substantial meal" that was required to be offered in nightclubs to allow them to serve a late drink. Of course, the issue we are dealing with now is not about circumventing the liquor laws in this country but circumventing laws that could be the difference between life and death in the communities in which the premises in question operate. As a consequence of a small number of irresponsible proprietors having taken the law into their own hands, we must give the Garda additional powers to clamp down on those rogue operators. Unfortunately, gardaí have found themselves hamstrung in their efforts to deal with the irresponsible few.

Speaking of the irresponsible few, this legislation is silent on the issue of house parties. On 19 March, I specifically raised the issue of house parties in the context of legislation that was before the House at that time. Some people were sniggering in response to the genuine concern I expressed that gardaí would need the power to shut down such parties due to the threat they posed in terms of the spread of Covid. I pointed out that while there was not an issue at that particular point in time, my fear was that over the months ahead - I made the point that we would be dealing with Covid-19 for months if not years - the risk of infection associated with house parties could become a significant problem. I sought at the time to ensure there was clarity in the law that was being brought forward by then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and that this issue would be addressed.

Every citizen in this country has made Trojan efforts, individually and within their communities, to stop the initial spread of Covid-19. The irresponsible handful of people in communities throughout the country, including in several cities, are now potentially facilitating a second surge of the virus. That cannot be allowed to happen. I highlighted that point to the then Minister for Health in March.

He told me in the House that his officials were satisfied that the power was within the existing legislation to cover the issue of house parties as well as that of public houses and restaurants.

Some Deputies have argued that the Garda does not want these particular powers. As a representative of the most rural constituency in the country, I know that the Garda needs those powers and that gardaí are asking for the powers because they believe it is the only way that they can deal with those who are acting without any regard for public health or the long-term sustainability of their own business or community. The irresponsible few are putting the lives of people in their communities at risk, especially older people, and they are risking a new lockdown on their county. All one needs to do to realise that is to look at what happened in counties Laois, Offaly and Kildare.

These are draconian powers and I am concerned by the scale of the powers that are in the legislation. The powers that are being introduced are very broad-ranging. For example, the definition of Covid-19 in the legislation relates not just to the current disease that we are managing but also to any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in the health regulations. These variants could be around for the next decade and, as such, the legislation could be available and on the Statute Book for a considerable time. It is imperative that the powers be time limited and they must be kept under constant review. That is why I ask the Minister to look again at section 17 before Committee and Report Stages tomorrow. Section 17(3) provides that the Act will continue in operation for two months, until 9 November. However, the caveat to that is that it can be extended indefinitely on a further resolution of this House. I want an assurance from the Minister that it will only be extended on a two-monthly basis and that there will be a discussion and justification on each occasion that it is renewed. That is required because of the scale of these powers which, sadly and unfortunately, I believe are necessary today.

However, if we are clamping down on rogue establishments, we need to relax the regulations in areas where there is a low risk of infection. The rules need to be proportionate but that is not currently the case. Not one person resident in County Leitrim has been infected with Covid-19 or tested positive for it in the past 29 days. Why is County Leitrim subject to the exact same rules as the city of Dublin where a second surge is beginning to bubble? There is no justification for that. The Government is very anxious to bring in draconian powers and it enforced lockdowns in counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly, but why has there not been a similar commitment to relaxing the regulations in parts of the country where there is no Covid-19 problem? In the past six weeks, there have been two positive cases in County Leitrim. How can the continued lockdown of that county be justified? I do not believe it can.

The Government has put more time and effort into clamping down on rogue operators than into coming up with solutions to open up the majority of pubs that are still closed. There is no justification whatsoever for the continued closure of pubs in rural locations. The issue in terms of Covid-19 has consistently been in cities. I accept there has been an anomaly in respect of meat plants, an issue that I raised in the House consistently during the two months prior to the appointment of the Government. I was criticised in the House and outside it for continuing to focus on the issue of meat plants. Sadly, I have been proven correct and the neglect in dealing with the meat and food processing facilities did, as I feared, lead to a resurgence of the virus. Unfortunately, the people of Laois, Offaly and Kildare have suffered the consequences of that resurgence.

We must be proportionate. The members of the Regional Group will support the Bill, but we want the Government to bring the same level of vigour to relaxing the regulations in parts of the country where there is not a problem. On 19 April, I called for proportionate measures and a consideration of variation in the regulations. The amount of abuse I received online for making such a suggestion at that time was absolutely horrendous, but I still believe that we should be looking at restrictions that are proportionate to the level of infection in various parts of the country. I am disappointed that, to date, the Government has not considered an easing of the regulations and restrictions in parts of the country where there is no Covid-19 problem.

That said, the Bill, which focuses on the liquor licensing laws as they relate to restaurants and gastropubs, ignores the issue of dealing with the very small number of irresponsible employers. Earlier this evening, all Deputies received an email from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. The email quoted an employee who was told that if workers in a particular company complained about the Covid-19 standards in the company, it would get another plane load of workers to take their place. That is the approach taken by some employers and HR departments to workers in factories, according to the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. Such behaviour is irresponsible in the context of the spread of Covid-19 in meat plants and the employers' own communities, but it is also irresponsible in the context of importing further Covid-19 infection into this country. We need to deal with the handful of employers who have complete disregard for the Covid restrictions and protections that should be normally in place in workplaces. I find it very surprising that such irresponsible behaviour has occurred, but we have seen it with regard to meat plants.

I accept that the management of Covid-19 in meat plants is very difficult because the employees must work closely together in a cold and noisy environment where the workers must shout to make themselves heard. Like crèches, where children are divided into bubbles, and schools, where children are segregated into classes, employers in the meat industry were advised last April to segregate employees. They were advised to bring in multiple shifts to avoid having large numbers of staff on the factory floor at the same time and to ensure that employees who live together, work together. Implementing those recommendations takes a bit of initiative and work, but it minimises the scale of infection when Covid-19 gets into meat plants, which it will.

We will have further infection now, as we screen the 50,000 employees across our meat and food sectors. No doubt we will have further positive numbers in those plants but we should be trying to keep those numbers in each plant at single digits and not running into double, and sadly sometimes treble, figures. There is no justification whatsoever for the latter in any operation in this country.

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