Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing some of the debate. I was at a meeting of the Business Committee. I was in favour of a sunset clause and I am glad we had one because it gives us a chance to debate the issue, albeit with severely limited time. At the Business Committee I objected strenuously to this debate being rushed today. Since its introduction in March, the Government has known that 9 November is the date. I am sick and tired of this Government. There is no pre-legislative scrutiny on most issues, and it is all because of a rush related to a deadline. There should not be a panic. We have known since we introduced these extraordinary powers in March that there was a sunset clause. It must be remembered that the Government did not even want a sunset clause. We are in a very dangerous place here and I am very concerned about it. I will be opposing this extension for that reason.

On more than one occasion, Dr. David Nabarro and other representatives of the World Health Organization have said that lockdowns have not worked and that they impact regressively and harshly on poorer people - ordinary citizens. Some big businesses have mushroomed and expanded here during the lockdown, but the ordinary people are made to suffer. There is loneliness and a sense of fear and fright.

The changes had not been announced 25 minutes the other day when Deputy Cahill announced on my local radio station that the ten-person limit on attending a funeral had gone to 25 because he phoned the Taoiseach. I welcome that because it is awful that our churches and places of worship are locked up completely. Along with North Korea and Saudi Arabia, Ireland is the only place where people cannot attend church services of any denomination. People have grown tired and I am concerned about the supports for them during this lockdown.

I support the community effort that An Garda Síochána has made. In Tipperary, Sergeant Ray Moloney and Superintendent Denis Whelan and the team there have started today making visits and supporting the community, which is what the community and the Garda need. No police force in the world can operate effectively without the support of the people. It needs that badly and it has that support thankfully and is doing great work. Regarding these powers, the Garda Commissioner - I almost said chief constable because of where he is from - has said that what has happened in England has not been good. Why are we blindly following with €2,500 fines and six months' imprisonment? We already know the prisons are full, although some prisoners were released at the outbreak of Covid to make space.

Where are the unalienable rights under the Constitution? Where is our right to assemble? These are all in our Constitution, which we are treading over here very dangerously.

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I am not in favour of extending these measures. We were told we are all in this together but we find we are not. Other speakers have raised the moratorium on mortgages. We let that slip. The banks waltzed into the Government and came out with only a slap on the wrist. The moratorium is gone and it will be done on a case-by-case basis. There have been 300 or 400 evictions. Businessmen have been brought through the courts throughout lockdown. We have made a pathway for the banks and the vulture funds to carry out their murky, dirty, filthy business, while they terrorise ordinary citizens, including home owners and business owners. The houses of many small businesspeople are collateral for their vans or machinery. Many musicians are in fear of losing their houses because they receive only pressure, arrogance and contempt from the lending institutions, yet we give it only a nod and a wink. We saw what happened in the Galway races tent years ago, we saw what happened at the Galway golf gate. I mean no disrespect to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. These events only so happened to take place in Galway, but it is just sickening. We are making way for the vulture funds and the banks. We see what goes on in the courts and the charade there.

People are growing tired of this. They made a Herculean effort to fight the virus, and we must do that, but not by regressing and using these over-demanding powers. The Minister for Justice is not present but I want clarity on whether the gardaí will have the power to enter homes. I understand that they cannot, if they are not wanted, without a search warrant. This is very serious and the Rural Independent Group will oppose it 100%.

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