Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important to point out that the vast majority of people want to comply with the guidelines and do the right thing and that they are doing their very best to do so. Sometimes people make mistakes and step over the line without realising it, often in rural areas where the distance of 5 km is an issue for many people. It is important that the Government is very clear with people that they are not breaching the guidelines if their nearest shop or where they need to go to get something is 10 km, 12 km or 15 km away. Patience will be needed with regard to all of this by everybody. We have to be patient with ourselves also.

Something that is putting a strain on people's patience is how the Government sets out these particular issues. Many people are frustrated when they see pictures of the occasional house party somewhere or frustrated with people who clearly go out deliberately to break the guidelines, cause friction in society and put it up to the Government. They want something done about this. At the same time, they are very fearful that the types of fines or measures to be put in place will be used against the ordinary person who would inadvertently stretch over the limit. This is why people are very concerned about giving a blank cheque to the Government to set out these particular fines and put them in place.

I go some of the way towards the Government's position. This is not a black and white issue. We recognise that there is a need at times to have some level of protection to ensure the law is adhered to. What happened on Grafton Street yesterday is an example of this. Clearly, powers are available to the Garda to do what needs to be done in the vast majority of situations. The Garda has stated it has issues with this law and that if very draconian measures are put in place, it will inhibit the ability of gardaí to bring people with them and engage with people in the way they want. We all recognise this is the case.

We also have to recognise the small number of people, as has been said earlier, who clearly want to break the guidelines and are up to no good. They have a different agenda. Their agenda is not about Covid or civil liberties. Their agenda is about something else. It is to try to create a counterculture in this country and throughout the world, one that is against authority and against people. It is a far-right movement that we see coming into place. We have to be very much aware of this. While we need measures to deal with this, introducing these draconian measures is not the way forward. The Minister should consider the sensible amendments that have been tabled. They are about capping and reducing the level of fines and removing the possibility of imprisonment because imprisonment is a totally disproportionate response to what people recognise needs to happen.

I return to the issue of patience. We all have to be patient with each other. Society needs to sit back and relax a little and realise that this will pass and that in one or two years' time we will get back to normal. We can do an assessment then and work out what was done right or wrong. In the meantime, we need to be very careful about what we do so that we do not lose people. I am afraid these particular measures will lose the public. We need to be very conscious that this should not happen.

See this speech in context