Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am forced to disagree with him. I believe the instructions that have been given to employers are a bit lax. Employers seem more intent on finding loopholes, which the Government should be fixing. It is important that we keep our workers safe at this time because our economy just cannot work without our workers' safety. I heard Deputy Doherty ask what planet the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, is living on. I think he is going around with a virtual reality headset on his head because this seems to have been designed by lobby groups rather than public health. The list of people who are considered essential workers is much longer than it was the first time. I am trying to be constructive. We see the Garda checkpoints now on the road. I wonder if there were some way we could identify essential workers and give them passes for their cars or something in order that they could use a different lane on the motorway or something like that if they are travelling and could be easily identified. That way, the Government could be very strict and employers would have to apply to the Government to find out whether their work is deemed essential. I can tell the Minister of State straight that appeasing the lobbies is not worth any worker's life or health. We have seen them lobby. They lobby the Opposition as well as the Government. However, a republic should look after the health of its nation and not just the businesses and its government. The people have been amazing during this crisis. We can see that once we stick to the rules the numbers come down. It is therefore not the people who are the problem. The virus is absolutely a problem but the rules are the biggest problem. We have to be stricter about the rules to keep people safe. I ask the Minister of State to consider that.

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