Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is very sad that we are back in a situation where level 5 restrictions apply. I take the opportunity to express my condolences to the families whose loved ones have passed away and to offer my support to the people in hospital who are struggling to get back to full health. There has been much criticism of the Opposition from speakers on the Government benches. There is not one person in this Chamber who does not want the measures to succeed and to ensure this is over as quickly as possible. Everybody supports the public health guidance on hand-washing, physically distancing and wearing a mask. That is what the vast majority of the people of this State want to do and are doing. However, our job is to hold the Government to account.

That is what I will do. I have listened to hundreds of people in my constituency talking about the current guidelines over recent days. They are confused. We have had seven long months of this. There was an opportunity over the summer, when the number of new cases daily was down to fewer than ten. We knew there was going to be a flu season and that people would go back indoors because of winter. There are now more than 1,000 people per day testing positive for Covid. What did the Government not do? It did not recruit the number of doctors and nurses required to deal with what was to come. CPL, however, got millions to employ people on temporary zero-hour contracts. I listened to nurses on the radio who had come home from Australia, New Zealand and Britain to work in our health service but who are still awaiting a permanent contract. Contact tracing has also been mentioned time and again. We still have not got a hold of this issue. It is now out of control and the system is not working.

Only today, I was contacted by a person who was talking about the bus system. Capacity was reduced from 50% to 25% and the system is now in chaos. Hundreds of people are unable to get to work or to school. There was no plan in place for this reduction. Several months ago, at the beginning of this crisis, 25% capacity was fine because the schools were not open and most businesses were closed. That is no longer the case. Children are in school and construction sites and other businesses which were not open in the initial stages are now open. This needs to be dealt with now because we are losing the people. We cannot afford to do so because more and more people will die.

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