Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be taking Deputy Devlin's slot because Deputy Alan Farrell is unavailable for his slot. As a result, my slot with the Acting Chairman will fall with the result that the Acting Chairman will receive an extra five minutes.

It was a privilege to serve on the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. While all reports have to be read in their context, which can often be difficult given the passage of time, even this report with the short period of time since it has been completed is difficult to read because of the speed with which that context has been changing. It is worth reminding ourselves of that context.

The first time I spoke in this Chamber was on 5 March. At that stage we had eight confirmed cases, and one of community transmission in the North. A local school in my area had just closed and there was widespread fear if not panic in the community. That panic was not quite understood by other communities until the following days and weeks, when that fear would spread. On that occasion, I said that we must approach Covid-19 as we would a war and that all the resources of the State, beyond those needed in peacetime, must be brought to bear to deal with it. Interestingly, when Deputy McDonald followed me in that debate, she rejected my assessment. She said that we were in uncharted territory but not in a war. It demonstrates the difficulty that all of us had in predicting what was to come, which is the context of this report.

The ninth recommendation of the committee, which relates to "Data relied upon by NPHET, its modelling code, as well as international evidence relied upon in making its recommendations", is an important one. We have asked much of the Irish people. The vast majority of people have adhered to and abided by our requests. It is paramount that the evidence used by NPHET in making its recommendations is made available. That is not to undermine NPHET but rather to support it in its recommendations. The decisions made by the last Government in what we might call chapter 1 up to July, and the decisions made by the new Government in what we might call chapter 2 which we are still in, have all been about protecting lives and livelihoods. It has been a difficult balance but it is one we have got right. It has resulted in Ireland being in the third best position of any EU member state in how we have handled coronavirus, which is worth repeating because we do not give ourselves credit for it. Yet it has been very difficult. We must now consider what chapter 3 will look like and when it will begin. When I put that question to Dr. Glynn at this committee’s hearings in September, he accepted that if the virus is to be with us for longer than six to nine months, we will have to review how we live with it. In the same way, we restricted activities and facilities in the initial stages of the AIDS epidemic before moving to a situation where we had education and safe practice.

The tenth recommendation in the report deals with the communication of restrictions. Each time we go into the world, there is a risk. As we head into the world of this virus, we are concerned with managing that risk. Initially, activities were judged on whether they allowed social distancing. We then moved to a different phase in which some activities were not permitted, even though they allowed social distancing, because they involved mixing different households or bubbles. That brings us into very difficult territory where we are making judgments about what is a good or a bad activity. That is always a dangerous space for government, and one that governments never want to be in. As in chapter 1 and chapter 2, we are in that space as we seek to save lives. If we have to live with this virus for a longer period, and I hope we do not, perhaps we will be better off guiding people to have a prescribed number of contacts, or a prescribed level of social contacts, and allowing them to apply it. Having a meal in a controlled environment is safe for me, my wife and my two children. If I have a meal with four different people from four different households, and we are not wearing masks, it is not safe. The risk is not the meal or the restaurants - it is the mixing of the households. It is an impossible thing to legislate for or even control, but it is the secret to returning to normal life.

Different people choose to do different things in their lives. If this virus stays with us for a longer period, and I hope it does not, I worry that we may end up with the difficulty of the State dictating what is a desirable activity. I know that is not the intention of any Member of the Dáil, any member of the Government or any member of NPHET as we unravel the advice. If the virus is to be with us for several months, we will need to give people more discretion in how they spend their own social contacts rather than the Government deciding how they spend them.

I commend this report to the House. I commend the Chairman and all the members of the committee. I look forward to its recommendations being implemented. Most importantly, I look forward to seeing the impact that this report, and the evidence we have gathered, will have on how we live with this virus. Let us hope that we will have to live with it for a short time rather than a long time.

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