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

More than two weeks ago, on 4 October, NPHET wrote to the Government outlining the deteriorating situation with the coronavirus. It called for level 5 measures across the country for four weeks. The Government rejected that advice.

What is more, the Tánaiste went on RTÉ, channelled his inner Donald Trump and publicly trashed and undermined the public health advice. Two weeks ago, in the Chamber, I warned this approach would not avoid going to level 5 and that it would simply mean going to level 5 later and for longer, after lives had been lost in nursing homes and in the community. That is precisely where we are now. When NPHET wrote to the Taoiseach two weeks ago, there had been 3,000 cases in the previous week. Now, the figure is more than 7,500. Then, there was a 14-day incidence rate of 108 per 100,000; now it is 262. Then there were 31 outbreaks in nursing homes; now there are almost 200. Now, because the Taoiseach did not follow the public health advice, we have a six-week lockdown instead of a lockdown for four weeks. The economy will suffer more damage as a result of this decision. Mental health will be more affected. Women and children facing abusive situations are more at risk. More people will die. Will the Taoiseach admit he made a grave mistake two weeks ago? Will he apologise for that mistake?

The future the Taoiseach has outlined today, what he has to offer people, is a lockdown for six weeks followed by partial reopening followed by a lockdown, again and again, disrupting our lives until a vaccine is found in a year or two. What if a vaccine is never found? That is an appalling vista for people. The Government squandered the sacrifices people made in the summer and failed to take the opportunity then to crush Covid. That mistake must not be repeated. This is why we need a zero-Covid strategy. Despite the Taoiseach's scaremongering in his speech last night, this does not mean locking down until there are no cases. It is about achieving zero community transmission. It means being able to trace immediately any outbreaks that happen.

The WHO has made clear that lockdowns are simply a way to buy time to put in place measures to prevent further outbreaks. These measures now need to be put into place. They include world-class find, test, trace and isolate support infrastructure to hunt down the virus and building a national health service, not by renting private hospitals at extortionate cost but by bringing them into public ownership and incorporating them into our public health service. It means providing people with the support they need to protect others from becoming infected, proper sick pay, a fully restored pandemic unemployment payment and an evictions ban that does not lapse in December promising a wave of Christmas evictions. It means directing the banks to reinstate mortgage moratoriums for people.

Will the Taoiseach apologise for the mistake he made two weeks ago? Does he agree that we cannot repeat the mistakes of the summer and we have to embrace a zero-Covid strategy so this lockdown is the last one that people have to endure?

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