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

I do not see how we can have a Dáil sitting today that does not debate the rejection of the clear public health advice by the Government and the Tánaiste's undermining of that public health advice in a very cynical and dangerous way on RTÉ television last night. Lives will unfortunately be lost as a result of the Government’s decision. The approach will not avoid going to level 5; it will simply mean going to level 5 later and for longer, potentially into Christmas, after lives have been lost in nursing homes and in the community. We will continue then on a roundabout of lockdown, partial reopening, and lockdown. We need to have a debate today about this and an alternative strategy based on eliminating community transmission by Christmas by supporting people, by full PUP restoration, full eviction and rent ban, but also by investing in ICU and in test and trace.

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