Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter as the conversation is very welcome. Earlier this week, the Government took the decision to move the country to level 5 of the framework for living with Covid-19, as outlined in the resilience and recovery plan. This decision took account of a variety of factors, including the views of the National Public Health Emergency Team on the current epidemiology of Covid-19 and the need to take decisive action.

The Government remains united in its resolve to tackle the spread of Covid-19. The disease prevention and control strategy that we have adopted seeks to prevent the virus spreading among our population to the greatest extent possible. The Deputies may describe this as a ban; we call it protection. The basic public health advice and regulatory measures aimed at blocking the transmission of Covid-19 from person to person remain vital.

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From the beginning of the pandemic, we have emphasised the many simple measures that can be taken to do this. These include keeping a distance, washing hands, wearing a face covering where required and avoiding crowds. Such measures do work. The resilience and recovery plan provides us with a framework to allow society and businesses to operate as normally as possible. Inherent in that framework is a prioritisation of activities.

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on society in Ireland, as it has throughout the world. Many people have lost their businesses or jobs. Others, unfortunately, have lost family members or friends. I would like to express my deepest sympathies to those families and friends in these very difficult times. Deputy Richmond spoke earlier about partners not being able to attend antenatal scan appointments with their loved ones. We have now had more than 54,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. The Government is concerned that, if left unchecked, this number will only increase further. I assure the Deputy that I am extremely conscious of the burdens that have been placed on all members of society as a result of the restrictions that had to be imposed. Many people have been unable to live their lives the way they normally would or participate in the usual rhythms of their communities. For very many people, being able to go to their local church to attend mass with their family and friends is a major source of comfort and solace at what is a very difficult time for our country and, indeed, for the world.

Unfortunately, as we all now know, the environment within which Covid-19 spreads most easily is indoors where a group of people are gathered. At this particular time, when we are doing our utmost to break the transmission cycle of the virus, we must, regrettably, make every effort to reduce such gatherings. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work the Catholic Church and other faiths have done to put in place comprehensive guidelines to protect their communities, as Deputy Mattie McGrath noted, in compliance with the HSE's public health advice. As we are able, we hope, to move back down the restrictions from level 5 in the near future, these efforts will assume ever greater importance. However, consistent with the level 5 restrictions applying at this time, religious services have moved online and places of worship are open for private prayer only. There are exceptions for funerals and weddings, which may be attended by 25 people.

It is important to note that under the regulations, ministers of religion are permitted to travel outside the 5 km limit to perform a service online, minister to the sick and conduct a funeral or wedding ceremony. I discussed this issue with my local parish priest, Fr. Michael, this week. Monsignor Cathal Geraghty in Loughrea has also spoken about it. In my local deanery, seven out of nine priests are over 65 years of age, with some of them over 70 and others over 80. This is a problem for many parishes in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

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