Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry but Deputy Murphy is not even in the Chamber. What is going on is outrageous. I am not answering Deputy Murphy; I am answering Deputy Boyd Barrett. There should not be people in corridors heckling during Leader's Questions. That is not acceptable behaviour.

I want to make the point that we did not open wet pubs because of a range of advice from EY and others, tracking what happened in August and September and taking decisions based on that evidence base. In respect of the point I was about to make, we took a more conservative approach on the household visits, and then traded that off with visits to hotels and restaurants, which, by the way, has a twofold dimension to it. The first is there is the issue of mental well-being and people needing to get out of their homes. There is only so much any Government can do in a democratic society in respect of imposing severe restrictions on its citizens.

Government has to take a measured and balanced approach. One cannot simply lock people up forever. Balance is required. We did not reject advice. We took a balanced, measured approach, which is difficult and challenging and which we are going to monitor. We appreciate very much the advice from NPHET but there was a trade-off. The impact of loosening restrictions on household visits would be equivalent to that of opening the hospitality sector to the degree we did. We decided to maintain household restrictions as they are until 18 December. We cannot, however, get away from the fact that it really is down to personal behaviour and personal responsibility from here until Christmas. We need to send that message through our own behaviours and otherwise and we really need to work to keep this virus at bay. There are no guarantees in this regard.

See this speech in context