Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will do my best to be focused in my ten minutes. Two of the Minister's statements do not fill me with trust. I will come back to the factual situation, particularly regarding the Policing Authority and its eight reports to date. As the Minister knows, a situation has arisen in a nursing home in Ahascragh in east Galway, just outside my constituency, though the word "situation" does not quite capture it.

I will not dwell on it. The Minister's comments on that yesterday were worrying. He accused a Deputy of scaremongering, spreading fear and being inaccurate. I have a number of reports from the press and local radio before me. There might not be exact figures, with 22 or 24 testing positive, but what is not in doubt is the nurse on the radio, crying. She said that she was not given to emotion, pointing out that they felt abandoned by the HSE. The Minister responded to what was raised yesterday by saying that it was spreading fear and anxiety. That does not fill me with confidence.

In his opening speech about the extension of the sunset clause, he said these laws are necessary for now and their main aim is to protect people and their lives. Proportionality is not a spirit; it is an obligation. Laws must be proportionate, fair and focused. The Minister said, "In the spirit of proportionality, I recognise that the extension of these extraordinary measures must be temporary and I will repeal them as soon as it is safe to do so." Perhaps that is inadvertent on his part but for me, that captures what has happened with this Dáil. He will make the decision when he sees fit, not this Dáil, the seat of democracy. I ask him to reflect on that type of language.

We are rushing legislation through the Dáil. I was one of the Deputies who unanimously agreed to the draconian powers. I used that word at the time and I will reuse it. We passed draconian powers because, at the time, the virus was new and life-threatening. It remains life-threatening. I will not diminish the virus. We passed draconian powers and I had serious reluctance to do that, but did so after careful consideration, on the basis that the Government would be frank, honest and open with us, and keep us informed, and that we would have full discussion in the Dáil. I have reflected on that decision many times since and part of me seriously regrets it. I did it as well as I could according to my conscience at the time. I kept up my side of the bargain as a parliamentarian, while the Government has utterly failed.

The Government has a narrative of us all being in it together. The difference between this Government and its predecessor is the previous Government spun this much better. People wanted to believe that spin and I could see why. We were never all in this together. Nursing homes were never in it together and they are still not in it together as we see from Ahascragh. People aged over 66 were never in it together. In the final quarter of last year, 65,000 people over 66 earned their livelihood and they have been excluded from every single Government scheme, with no justification, proportionality or underlying rationale other than that the Government does not care. Meat plants were never in this with us because they were ignored. Direct provision was certainly not in it. The message contained the appalling word "cocooning" for 70 year olds. I am glad that it has been dropped. The language was undermining, ordering them to stay in, with no basis for it. We were never in it together. However, the vast majority of people, including the vast majority of Members, all worked together for the common good. We worked together in an imperfect world to try to protect the most vulnerable. We did not do it very well.

We fought to put in a sunset clause. Imagine that legislation was brought before us with no sunset clause. It was to go on forever, which is worrying, given the Minister's comments that when he sees fit, he will amend it. The sunset clause has been renewed by majority vote with regard to the mental health provisions. We are here today with legislation to give more power to the police force.

Let me look at the confused message before I go to the substance of the Policing Authority's report. We allow horticulture but we close allotments. We talk endlessly about mental health but we close public swimming pools, which are easily able to comply with regulations. We close allotments out in the air, where all the allotments are separated. We give confused messages to therapists who are carrying out acupuncture or reflexology. They have no idea whether they are allowed to work. I do not wish to describe myself as an atheist or agnostic because it is not relevant, but I am not the loudest supporter of the church. It is wrong to close churches. They function as a protected asylum, in the best sense of the word "asylum" for people to go into. I have used them myself on occasion to go into to reflect, calm down and use the space, which is sacred in the nicest sense of the word, yet we give out totally confused messages. Nursing homes have been deprived of visitors. I know somebody who was visiting his wife who had dementia prematurely and after a two-week break, because there was an outbreak of Covid, that person did not recognise her husband. That is copper-fastened, with no more visits. It is not clear whether somebody can stand outside a window and talk through the window. That seems to be disallowed. I had a personal contact about that. There is utter confusion. Our attention was deflected to a Bill that was not necessary, in the urgent manner that it was put through yesterday by a majority vote and the power of the tyranny relating to mother and baby homes, when our attention should have been in here, holding the system to account and asking the Minister not to talk about "I" but how he will have accountability in the Dáil.

With regard to the Policing Authority reports, at the risk of being called a misreport after all the reports about the commission of inquiry, it has done us all a great favour. Let me pay tribute to the gardaí, as the Policing Authority has. Like my colleagues, I have called for more gardaí. They have stood up to the challenge of Covid, notwithstanding the Morris tribunal, the Charleton tribunal, the McCabe matter and the O'Higgins report. They have learned and they are still learning, which is welcome. We set up the Policing Authority to have oversight of what gardaí are doing in Covid. It published eight reports. In those eight reports, it praises the gardaí but highlights its concerns. In the latest report, it points out, "Throughout this period, the Authority has held the view that emergency powers for the Garda Síochána should be at the minimum level possible." The Garda Commissioner has reaffirmed his view that added powers are not required. This report is dated 9 October. It is not inappropriate to sound a note of caution. There is a genuine and well-founded concern that extensive new powers for the gardaí and their widespread use might not act as a panacea.

I have repeatedly pointed out that there is no need for more powers. What is needed is more gardaí, better training and for the management of the Garda to outline in detail how it has used existing powers. The Policing Authority has repeatedly expressed its concern that there is no disaggregation of how many times the Garda has used its powers to give direction or to ask a person for his or her name. It is not the gardaí that have failed; their management has failed to give that breakdown of information that should be before us so that we can make a rational decision about whether they need more power. We have regulations to come with regulations to come, and regulations from yesterday. Like two peas in a pod, two households can suddenly come together. It is insulting that we are now using a punitive approach and punitive language, not based on what the gardaí are asking for or what the Policing Authority is asking for, but a threadbare figleaf to hide the failure of this Government and the previous Government to protect our people, maintain solidarity and show leadership. Leadership is not shown by undermining NPHET in the way that the Tánaiste did. Of course, NPHET needs to hear constructive criticism and it needs proper representation.

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