Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Public health and adherence to guidelines are paramount in tackling the current public health crisis. Transparency, common sense, public confidence and clear messaging are the measures needed to bring the public along with the Government with these restrictions, but the Government has been found wanting in all these areas. We supported the legislation at the time but the way the Government has acted since means there is much to be answered.

There has been no transparency or rationale given as to why people had to spend €9 on a substantial meal while having a drink. Where did the €9 figure come from and what should constitute a substantial meal? How was the substantial meal going to protect people against Covid-19? There was also no transparency or rationale given on how the limit of 105 minutes was arrived at. The idea that a pub must record all food ordered by each customer and store the information for 28 days was a case of bureaucracy gone mad.

I have seen at first hand the genuine efforts the pubs in Clondalkin, Lucan, Rathcoole, Palmerstown and Saggart made to open their premises safely and in line with public health guidelines, despite mixed messages and a lack of transparency from the Government. My heart went out not only to the licensees but also to the staff who are now back unemployed through no fault of their own.

We in Sinn Féin are not privy to the briefings that the Government receives from the National Public Health Emergency Team. As a public representative I have been asked numerous questions seeking clarity and the rationale behind these decisions. For examples, local barbers and hairdressers jumped through more hoops and red tape in order to reopen safely but they now find themselves closed again. One barber told me that if the Government said the barbers were a cause of Covid-19 outbreaks, he would happily close his doors. However, he has been given no explanation whatever for closing and there is no transparency in the process.

Gym customers have contacted me with concerns that they have about physical and mental health. Even the option for them to work out in a sterile, safe and socially distanced manner was ripped away from them, again with no transparency or rationale given.

I asked the Minister for the evidence used in the decision to close gyms under level 5 restrictions but I was left with more questions than answers. It states:

...the set of measures, individually, do not comprise a list of activities or places which are equally safe. Instead they are baskets of measures informed by public health understanding of the disease.

What are "baskets" and what measures have been used to inform how they will be filled?

We had a blanket approach the first time we had restrictions, and this was widely accepted as we never went through a pandemic before. It seems nothing has been learned from that time. If the Government had got its testing and tracing put in place correctly, it would have been able to pinpoint what businesses and activities cause the Covid outbreaks. If blankets or baskets are the solution, this chaotic Government is causing more confusion.

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