Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fact that we are once again debating emergency Covid-related legislation underlines the impact this pandemic is having on the Irish public. We are all aware of the impact it has had economically and on the physical health of the people. However, one area of life that is not given sufficient attention is the impact that the pandemic is having on the mental health and spirit of the people of Ireland. I am very concerned about the ongoing impact the pandemic and the necessary restrictions that come with it are having on the Irish public. I have met people who never before suffered from depression who are now depressed as a result of the pandemic and the fact that they do not see any hope or any light at the end of the tunnel. It is important that we as legislators and as people who keep a close eye on the development of this pandemic let the Irish people know that there are reasons to be hopeful and light at the end of this terrible tunnel. I want to mention some reasons to be hopeful because they are not being given sufficient attention in the media or by politicians.

The first measurement of any pandemic is its mortality. How many people have died as a result of this pandemic? The first person recorded in Ireland as having died with or from Covid-19 was back in March and in the two months after that first death, a further 1,487 Covid-related deaths were recorded. That was a huge number of deaths in a two month period. Let us look at the two months which have just passed. Let us talk about July and August which are particularly important months because they were the months when the restrictions were lifted and people were trying to get back to some semblance of normality. During that two month period there were only 40 recorded Covid-related deaths. It is important to note, as is the case with the death that was recorded today, that many of those 40 deaths took place prior to July and August. Each one of those deaths, whether it is the 1,487 deaths in the first two-month period or the 40 deaths in the latter two-month period, was a trauma for the family members of those who died but when it comes assessing and appraising a pandemic, we have to look at the mortality figures. The latest figures give us hope that we are over the worst part of the mortality of this pandemic.

Let us look at another measurement by which we can assess a pandemic, namely hospitalisations. Back in April at the height of the impact of the pandemic on this country there were 881 people in hospital with Covid-19 and of those, 155 were in intensive care at one stage.

Of those 881 patients, at one stage a total of 155 were in intensive care. They were the highest figures on a particular date in April. They were significant figures and they nearly threatened the capacity of our health system. Yet, when we look at the figures today we see there are 40 people in hospital. We wish them all well and hope they have a speedy recovery. Of those 40, only six are in intensive care. Again, when we measure hospitalisations there are reasons to be hopeful because of the reduction in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 at present. There has been a slight increase in the number of people in hospital over the past two weeks but that is to be expected because of the fact that we have lifted restrictions and there is far more testing ongoing in Ireland at present. That is fortunate as well. Let us not become unnecessarily unnerved by the rise in the number of figures. The issue we need to keep a close eye on is the number of people in hospital. Fortunately, those numbers have reduced significantly.

It would be beneficial if the National Public Health Emergency Team and the health service gave us statistics about the number of recoveries. We know that to date there have been approximately 29,000 positive cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, but we should be informed of the number of people who have fully recovered. Obviously, this is a dangerous and nasty disease, especially for elderly people and those with underlying conditions. Nevertheless, we need to be informed of the extent to which the majority of people who have got this disease or who have tested positive have recovered from it. That is another reason I believe there is some hope when we look to see the number of recoveries, but this needs to be publicised more.

Finally, the best news this country has had in the past six months occurred in the past six or seven days. We have got hundreds of thousands of children back to school. I am sure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has seen the joy in the faces of children as they have gone back into the classroom as well as the joy in the faces of the parents as they see their children going back to school. I commend the children and their parents on that. More especially, I commend the teachers and the principals of Ireland. They have done an extraordinary amount of work to ensure that the schools are ready and safe for children. The teachers of Ireland excelled themselves during lockdown as well as at present. They will continue to do so because they are committed selflessly to the education of young people in Ireland. We all appreciate the absolute importance of providing education to young people in Ireland.

I spoke previously in the Dáil in April and May about the impact this pandemic was having on the educational development of young people. It has a regressive and negative impact on young people. We should ensure that never again do we close down our schools because we regard it as a measure to deal with Covid-19. It has too many negative repercussions for our children.

I support the legislation that is before the House. It is important that if the gardaí are being asked to regulate premises, then they have the powers to do something practical if those regulations are not being obeyed. I agree with people who have spoken in the Chamber. The vast majority of those running public houses that are open now are behaving responsibly. I was down in Kerry during August. Many of those running the pubs and restaurants down there that are open are working together. The people who are running the businesses are being responsible. We need to emphasise as well that the people of Ireland are being responsible. They are behaving like adults. When we treat them like adults, they respond responsibly in respect of their obligations.

Two weeks ago I mentioned it was important that, as policymakers, we inform the people about our aim and objective at present in dealing with this pandemic. There was political consensus in March and April. We saw the terrible scenes in the hospitals in northern Italy and Spain. We saw the terrible scenes where people in those hospitals could not get the medical treatment they required in intensive care units. Given all that, we decided we were not going to let that happen in this country. We decided we were going to close down our economy. We took over the private hospitals. We established a field hospital in Citywest. All these measures were introduced by us with the agreement of everyone in the House because we did not want to contemplate a circumstance where any person could come into a hospital in Ireland but be unable to get the appropriate medical treatment. As I said, we were right to do it because in early April there were 881 people in hospital on a particular day and 155 of them on another day were in intensive care. The objective worked and the people understood the reason we were closing down our economy was to ensure that did not happen. Now, with the numbers dropping - there are only 40 people in hospital today and hopefully the number in hospital will stay low - we need to inform the public about the aim and objective of this State.

As I see it, there are three objectives we could seek to achieve when it comes to our response to Covid-19 in its current phase. First, we could go for the option recommended by many eminent immunologists and scientists. It is that we seek to have a Covid-19 zero island. I do not think that is attainable. I say as much with the greatest of respect to the immunologists and scientists who have advocated for it. Even if we had sought to do it far earlier and had got to a situation, as in New Zealand, where there were no recorded cases for a period, I believe it would have been impossible for Ireland to retain that situation because of our land border with the United Kingdom and our membership of the European Union. We also need to recognise that if we want a Covid-19 zero island, we would have to shut down for probably another four or five weeks fully and then wait a further two weeks with no recorded cases. I do not believe that is attainable.

The second option is that we decide we are going to restrict human interaction considerably until such time as we discover a vaccine. I also believe that would have devastating consequences. It would probably mean that in terms of education we would have to go back to remote teaching of our children. That is not acceptable to the people. It would also mean that the many young people in their 20s who have ambitions and aspirations would be required to put those ambitions and aspirations on hold until such time as we get a vaccine. I hope there will be a vaccine, as does everyone in this House, but there is no guarantee that there will be a vaccine. Even if there is a vaccine, we know from other vaccines that it does not mean Covid-19 will be eliminated. I do not believe that is an option.

The third option is the most feasible. It is that we have to recognise and accept that people in Ireland are going to contract Covid-19 but that we do our best by applying public health measures to ensure that we keep those figures as low as possible. Although we have not stated it, I believe that is the strategy we are operating at present. I do not believe we will be able to get to a situation where we will consistently have no Covid-19 cases in Ireland. However, what we can do is ensure that we continue with the hygiene measures and, if we have any symptoms, we should stay at home and stay away from people and keep our distance. We must do that to ensure we can open up our society.

We are never going to get back to the situation that existed before, where we had nightclubs or pubs where people congregated densely on top of each other. That is not going to happen. What we can do - I hope to see this - is open all public houses. People will be responsible and publicans will be responsible. They will know that they cannot have densely congregated groups in their public houses. It may be that we will have to give indicators to publicans to the effect that they can only have a certain number of people in a pub depending on the square footage. People are adults and people will comply with that.

I do not want to see us becoming judgmental about young people. I sense some of that seeping into the debate in this country. This is a major issue for young people. Many of their ambitions have been put on hold. We expect people in their 20s to be enjoying themselves. The vast majority of them have been highly responsible. I believe they will continue to be highly responsible. Really, what we need to do, if we are to go down the route I recommend, is be careful in protecting vulnerable groups. We are going to have to be really careful in protecting the elderly. This may mean that visits to nursing homes will be closely regulated and only certain visits will be permitted. People with underlying conditions are going to have to be protected by the State. The State has a significant duty to protect them. When we look back at the history of Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland, the great State failing will be what happened in our nursing homes in February, March and April of this year. That was the real trauma in this country. We have to ensure that in future we protect vulnerable groups, including the elderly and those with underlying conditions.

To conclude, there are reasons to be hopeful. We cannot let a situation develop where the people of Ireland wait until 6:30 p.m. every evening to see what the numbers are for the day, and then pessimistically and anxiously go off, not knowing what is going to happen in their lives.

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