Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make three comments - one on schools, one on Christmas and one on workers' rights.

On schools, the mental health pressures on the students are mounting. The Minister was very quick to shoot down the suggestion made by the Teachers' Union of Ireland about finishing for Christmas on 18 December. She gave the very strong impression that the Government is not listening, not only to the teachers but also to the students. The Minister needs to see what is happening with mental health and she needs to learn how to read the room.

On the question of Christmas, the people of Ireland are wise enough to know there cannot be a fully normal Christmas this year. They should be able to have an enjoyable Christmas without having to fear lockdown again in January. Unfortunately, the Government's continuing failure to put in place a world-class testing and tracing system does increase the risk. The entire population of Liverpool was recently tested for Covid, and 2,000 asymptomatic people were identified and quarantined. Why are we not doing mass testing here in this country?

On workers' rights, if there was a trade union leadership worthy of the name, 2020 would have witnessed a general strike to defend workers' rights and to demand an Irish national health service. The year 2021 must be the year when we beat the virus and see a workers' fight-back for real change on these issues.

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