Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have been tackled by a Deputy who went on a local radio station and questioned the efficacy of the Covid and HPV vaccines. I commend the Minister on mentioning the memory and work of the late Laura Brennan, who was a true hero in this country and deserves to be commended and remembered in the House as often as is appropriate. It is appropriate to remember her at this time.

Is the Rural Independent Group serious about wanting to get out of the tragedy that has been the Covid pandemic? The rest of us are. We may have different ways of doing that and query or question what the Government is doing, but we all agree that, throughout the world, the provision of a safe vaccine to all people in an efficient way is the only true way of getting out of this.

We have all experienced pain and been hurt by this pandemic. This motion tries to exacerbate the urban-rural divide. I am delighted that Deputy O'Donoghue mentioned that rural Ireland begins outside the Red Cow roundabout. I happen to live outside of the Red Cow roundabout. I have not been able to go to my local pub which does not serve food, and I miss it. No pub should be unable to reopen when all of this ends. I hope there will be support from Government so that my local pub will be able to reopen and, when it is appropriate and public health allows, I will be able to go for a pint with my brother-in-law or a friend. I miss the pub.

It might come as a surprise to some rural Deputies that I miss going to mass. I have not been able to go to mass. This is not just an urban-rural issue. The Deputies to whom I refer will not hold that ground. It is absolute nonsense.

Broadband is an issue in my constituency, as well as within the canals of Dublin and the centres of all major cities and towns in Ireland. These issues cut across the breadth of Ireland. To have a false dichotomy and an urban-rural divide being stoked by this group every time its Members take to their feet on an issue does a disservice to the major issues in this country such as trying to get out of the Covid crisis.

I speak to a plethora of issues. I again have to raise the issue of Aer Lingus workers. Their management are signing forms for short-time work which are totally inaccurate in terms of their experience during the crisis. It has to be asked whether this is a concerted effort to try to time out the entitlement to short-time work. I hope it is not and that this issue will be brought to the Minister for Social Protection and the Taoiseach. There has generally been goodwill from this and the previous Government and most people on this side of the House to try to ensure that any workers who have been adversely affected, and there are hundreds of thousands of them, get the supports they need and are entitled to the benefits that are available.

There are issues in respect of people who are in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and who were working for companies which availed of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, over the summer and then transferred to the PUP. They do not have enough entitlements to receive the Christmas bonus. These people have, in essence, been on State support since March. The TWSS is administered through Revenue and the PUP is the responsibility of the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, which means people have fallen outside of the criteria for the Christmas bonus. Can that be examined, even if the bonus is paid after Christmas, allowing for administrative delays?

We reiterate our call for a vaccine and the efficient roll-out of same. Health professionals are backing this vaccine. They have said so publicly. If Deputies open their ears, they will listen to and hear them. In early June I met Professor Luke O'Neill of Trinity College when we were at a stage that we were discussing the efficacy of face masks. It is incredible to think that that conversation was being had. Now their efficacy is accepted by almost everyone. Not everyone who signed the motion believes in wearing face masks.

In my meeting with Professor Luke O'Neill he showed me some data on the different scientists, companies and universities that were working on a vaccine. He said nothing like this has happened in human history. Almost the entire resources of science have been dedicated to this. It is no surprise that the vaccine has been brought forward relatively quickly. Unfortunately, it has not been quick enough for the thousands of people who have died, have contracted the virus and have suffered deeply or are suffering from the effects of long Covid.

There was footage on yesterday's news from hospital wards of the people who are still on ventilators and receiving emergency treatment. That footage is still powerful because people are still dying and are still in intensive care. A way out of this is to support the vaccine and answer any hesitancy with facts from medical professionals and scientists. Unfortunately, the motion, for all its words, does not include those words and that is a shameful omission from a motion that is supposed to cover everything that is important in respect of Covid.

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