Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

People are frightened and struggling to cope with what lies ahead. However, they will endure this lockdown. They will do so because it gives them the hope that Christmas can be saved. This is how it has been sold to them. If they focus on the fact that Christmas can be celebrated with some semblance of our "old normal", they are willing to take the darkness now, so that the lights can shimmer in December.

We have been down this road before. In March, we aimed to save summer. In October, we aim to save Christmas. What will our next aim be? The question I pose today is whether we are learning from the actions we are taking. Are we being proactive or reactive? Are we locking down people and locking up the economy while neglecting to rethink our strategy and vary our approach?

There are two weapons we can use to win this battle of survival, namely, technology and enforcement. We need a renewed emphasis on the importance of testing and tracing. We also need the implementation of fast turnaround diagnostic testing in schools and at airports and ports. We must sanction screening for workplaces to detect asymptomatic cases. I have been told by those working on the front line that people are hanging up when they are phoned and told they are a close contact of a positive case. This sounds alarming, but it is factual. People are revolting in a dangerous way. We need rapid testing to get people back onside.

All of our strategic decisions around Covid are based on critical care bed capacity and the fear of our hospitals being overwhelmed. We have to close down our economy because our bed capacity is totally inadequate. This is due to the abject failure of the HSE over many years to proactively manage our health system. The country and its people are now paying an enormous price for the years of failure in the administration and political oversight of the health service. The alarm bells have been deafening for many years. We now have a healthcare system that cannot handle a winter crisis, never mind a pandemic. We throw money at the problem, but we do not see results.

Issues such as these must be tackled without delay. The next six weeks cannot simply be about suppressing a virus that will come out to join us again after the Christmas celebrations. This lockdown must be a time to tackle the problems that have led us to where we are now. Everything must be scrutinised, every success recorded, every failure rectified and every alternative analysed. We must use this time to harness the medical and healthcare industry to investigate and implement additional initiatives to urgently increase high-level bed capacity.

The shock and harsh reality of the closure has again hit our bewildered business community. This further lockdown will have incredibly negative consequences for business. To address this the Government has introduced the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS. Could the Tánaiste explain the value of this fund and the criteria and procedures relating to drawing it down?

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