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

At the outset I thank Deputy Mattie McGrath and Councillor Máirín McGrath and the people in the Deputy's office for helping to prepare this important motion to come before the House this evening.

It is important that the Minister and the Members who supported the legislation last week and the statutory instrument that has been introduced, look seriously at what they did. The critics of what we are doing this evening should not try to paint us into a box and say that we are doing something that would be prejudicial to public health. To a person, the most important thing for each one of us, including the Minister and everyone else in this House, is people's health. That is the most important thing. It is more important than anything else. It is more important than the economy, money, jobs or anything else. Health is more important than anything. Having said that, common sense also has to prevail. When pubs were allowed to open, nobody would tell me when I asked in the House why it was better for a person's public health that they have a drink in one hand and something to eat in the other. There was no logic in what the Minister did. He should have allowed every pub to open at the same time but what is done is done.

Our motion is about more than just publicans. I am very glad that publicans from County Kerry came up to Dublin today. Indeed, publicans came up here from around the country, although today a lot of people came from County Kerry. They came from north, south, east and west County Kerry. They were very welcome to come here but it is sad to see them coming. These are people whose livelihoods have been torn apart. Their doors have been closed since last March. They came here out of genuine frustration and out of distrust for the Government due to the way it has treated them already. The Government has given them false hope and false starts that never came to pass. That was a very unfair and nasty thing to do. There seems to be an anti-publican trait in this Government and the previous Government. In particular, it seems to be doing all it can to run down the whole pub culture and all of that and that is wrong. There is no need to do that. We should be proud of our tradition of public houses.

Our motion today is about a lot more than just dealing with that issue. I ask the Minister where is the common sense in a situation where it is prejudicial to people's health for a family that has had a bereavement to go to a hotel and have a meal together? It may be family and friends and only six of them can do that. Where is the common sense in that? People can organise a wedding and it can be held in a proper, safe way. It may be in a very large venue.

We have venues in Kerry that can cater for 1,000 people at a wedding. Surely where there could be 1,000 we can have 200 or 300 in a very safe fashion. Pro rata, if we have a hotel that could hold 300 people or 400 people, surely be to God it could have 150 people in a safe way. Common sense has to prevail. Our economy has to be allowed to continue while, most importantly, protecting and minding our older people and people with low immune systems. This is of paramount importance. Nobody is saying here today that we do not care about health or social distancing. We are not saying that, not for one second. What we are saying is the Government seems to be away with the fairies on this one.

We voted how we did last week, but the most horrible thing we saw was where people who supported the Government, voted for the Bill and spoke in favour of it and then went home and kept saying on their local radio stations that it was a step too far and the Government was out of line. For God's sake, they are the people who voted for it. Now they will be given a chance. Thanks to Deputy Mattie McGrath and my colleagues, they will be given another opportunity. They will be able to look into their hearts and souls and decide whether they did the right or wrong thing. I know what they did but all of us are responsible for our own actions. I ask the Minister to look at the powers the Government has given itself, realise it has made a mistake, realise it is doing wrong by the people who want to work and allow them to continue. Let us face into the winter with a little bit of hope and optimism and a little bit of thinking outside the box.

See this speech in context