Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am returning to the issue of quarantine. Mandatory quarantine is necessary. Quarantine at home is a waste of time. The new variants are potentially lethal. That is the analysis coming through.

The Health Act 1947 actually gives the Minister quite an amount of power, if we read it. In May of last year, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Justice, the Attorney General and all other relevant Ministers agreed, as a result of a request from the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, to come together to discuss how to bring this about. What has happened? What actions have been taken for the past eight months on quarantine following that request and that group coming together? Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House, after eight months, that they were not doing nothing? I call on the Taoiseach to tell me they were not doing nothing. When, at the latest, we will have this legislation in front of the House? All of us will facilitate it next week for as long as we have to sit.

See this speech in context