Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If we had seen enforcement at level 3, rather than engagement, we might not have found ourselves at level 5 at all. It is obvious that, for some, education and encouragement just will not work and their behaviour will not change until we get real about enforcement. We have heard the stories about house parties and other scenarios whereby people awaiting test results failed to isolate and caused further outbreaks. The failure to deal with some of those circumstances under level 3 by way of meaningful fines - fines that would make people stop and think twice before engaging in what is clearly reckless behaviour - has, in part, led us to where we are today.

We are told we need to socially distance but the provisions in this legislation are about social isolation, not social distancing. While the legislation before us will give us statutory instruments with the harp on the front of them, the difficulty is that we are giving the Government a blank sheet of paper on which to write whatever it wants. I will give a practical example. Today, the website of the Department of Health states that one has to stay within 5 km of one's home but that one can travel beyond 5 km from home if going to visit a grave. However, in the statutory instrument that has been drafted in respect of this legislation, there is no mention of travelling 5 km beyond one's home. If exercising, one must remain within 5 km of home. If someone living in County Roscommon wants to go to the chemist, he or she can go to the chemist in Belmullet and comply with the regulations as currently drafted but there is no mention of graves in the regulation. If I want to walk 50 yards down the road to visit a grave, I could, under the regulations as currently drafted, be fined €500. This is the contradiction in the regulations before us. This is what has frustrated the public.

We have heard a lot of discussion about house parties. On 19 March, I tabled an amendment to the emergency legislation specifically to address the issue of house parties. The then Minister for Health stood in this House on that day and told me he was satisfied there were sufficient powers in the legislation being enacted at the time to cover house parties, public houses and restaurants. Here we are, seven months later, introducing legislation to deal with this. There is contradiction after contradiction and confusion after confusion. That is what is causing absolute frustration and anger among the public. We are being asked to buy a pig in a poke and bring in the most draconian laws ever introduced in this country, laws that contradict what is in black and white on the Government's website as we speak. What are we doing? Can the Government not get its act together and be unambiguous about what it is trying to do?

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