Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The greatest threat to the response to Covid-19 is a lack of public confidence. I welcome this motion from the Rural Independent Group, not that I support the notion that we have no regulations at all, but because it clearly points out and puts on the record of this House that a dent has been made in public confidence. The Government is responsible for that undermining of public confidence in the measures in place. People are aghast at what they consider to be double standards and, in some cases, doublespeak.

Back in June, our deputy leader in this House, Deputy Doherty, asked the Tánaiste whether NPHET had been asked to prepare regulations that would allow pubs that do not serve food to operate on the same basis as pubs that do. The Tánaiste acknowledged at that stage that the question had not even been asked. This week, those regulations were published and we are now told that pubs that do not serve food will open on 21 September. People are naturally asking why this took so long.

We have had confusion from the outset concerning international travel. The Government advice is, essentially, to not go on international travel. Yet, every morning, one of the first emails I get is from Ryanair, offering me many different destinations to which I could travel at the drop of a hat. I get a similar email later from Aer Lingus. There is clearly confusion somewhere if the airlines are operating on the basis that it is business as usual. This in the context where, in some cases, ordinary, hard-working people, who had holidays booked a year ago, had no recourse. They were told they could travel because the flights were operating. If they did go, however, they would have been vilified and cast as irresponsible, while if they did not go, they would lose their hard-earned money. That is simply not fair.

An attempt has been made on the part of some Government representatives to vilify young people. Threats of members of the Garda raiding people's homes in respect of the Covid-19 restrictions really dented public confidence. The Minister's comparisons of the situation with Covid-19 to car crashes and trampolines also did enormous damage. We are telling a grandad, who has adhered to all the regulations and self-isolated in lonely circumstances for several weeks, that he cannot stand now on the side of a football pitch and watch his grandchild play a championship match, while that same child is getting on a packed bus every day to go to school.

The Minister will understand that it is issues like that which are creating mistrust and unnerving the public regarding the restrictions. The lunatic proposals last week that restaurants and pubs would be expected to keep an itemised record of what every customer ate for 28 days went even further in that regard. All the while, the meat factories continue to operate behind closed doors, with almost no transparency concerning how they operate. It is almost impossible to get answers. I am not sure if the Minister has the answers, because he certainly has not responded with them to my queries.

We need, therefore, to have a rethink and a refocus. We know we need to get this right and we need to win the battle against Covid-19. Our communities have shown that they will respond to clearly understood and sensible restrictions. They will not respond, however, to doublespeak and double standards. Now is our time and our opportunity to ensure we get this right, and I call on the Minister to ensure that we do just that.

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