Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will vote to annul the regulations. We have consistently opposed the granting of additional powers to the State and the creation of criminal offences in an attempt to deal with Covid-19. There are two reasons for that. First, we do not trust that these measures will not be used against protesters and as a general incursion on civil liberties. The regulations do not make any distinction to allow for peaceful protest. They treat protests outdoors in the same manner as a barbecue or something else. We know that these measures have already been used against protesters. They were cited, for example, against the Debenhams protesters. We know from historical international experience that what starts out as very limited incursions on civil liberties is expanded, generalised and kept in place. Examples of this include the US PATRIOT Act and the Public Order Act in Britain. Second, we do not think criminalising things works to achieve public buy-in and support. For those reasons, I will vote to annul the regulations.

The main point I want to make is to encourage people to engage in social distancing and to use masks, not because some behaviours are being criminalised, which should not be going on, but as an act of collective solidarity and of people looking out for each other. It is a thing we need to do if we are to avoid an explosion in case numbers and a second wave.

What is happening is an insidious attempt to undermine social distancing and mask wearing. The latest example of this, which is an echo of what is going on in the US encouraged by President Trump, is a video from Ben Gilroy which was posted the night before last. The video claims, incredibly, that the figures show that only 100 people, as opposed to almost 2,000 people, died from coronavirus. It is complete and utter nonsense and people should look into it to understand how it is nonsense. It states that only 100 people who had no underlying conditions died of Covid-19, but another 1,670 or 1,680 people who had underlying conditions died of Covid-19 as well.

That is not a shock, conspiracy or hidden information; it is precisely what the medical experts predicted, namely, that coronavirus would particularly affect those with underlying conditions. To be clear, one in three of the population has an underlying condition. The majority of those aged over 50 have underlying conditions.

In reality, what these people - it is the far right that is at the core of this anti-mask conspiracy stuff - are saying is that people with underlying conditions do not matter. We should engage in social distancing and wear masks and we should take the proper precautions to protect older people, those with underlying conditions and workers because they absolutely do matter. People rightly think the Government advice is inconsistent. The reason it is inconsistent is because it attempts to mediate between the public health, which is what should be primary, but runs it then through a filter of private profit. The reason we have a second wave now is because the Government did not do what was necessary for public health within the meat plants because of the power of the meat factory owners. We need to insist that public health should come first and dismiss those who argue that we should not wear masks and engage in social distancing. We should do this and be pushing for a strategy from the Government to eliminate community transmission entirely based on mass and rapid testing, together with social distancing and mask wearing.

Those who say masks should not be worn are taking an anti-worker position. It is putting front-line workers, including shop workers and transport workers, in danger. The act of solidarity if people can wear masks is to do so.

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