David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I commend the Labour Party on bringing forward this motion. I join the Minister in extending my solidarity to all the families of those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 in recent months and especially in the past month, when the number of deaths has been very high.

There is no doubt whatever that we need a change in approach. Sinn Féin supports a maximum suppression strategy. We want to get to a point where we get the numbers down as low as we possibly can and thereafter to keep them low. If we are honest, we have failed in that area in the past when the investments needed were not made in the appropriate responses and measures when numbers were brought low by huge efforts by people to abide by public health restrictions, which are really tough on families, workers and businesses. The inaction of the Government and the failure to invest in test and trace, as well as the failure to embrace all-island responses or to ensure that we have sufficient checks at ports and airports have resulted in this State losing control of the virus, not because of anything the public has done but because the Government has not got its house in order.

A strategy that is fit for purpose must be one that is underpinned by the public health advice. It has to be underpinned by a robust test and trace system that can be used to hunt down the virus when the numbers are low and stay ahead of the virus, and which really achieves the first principles given to us by the World Health Organization at the very start of the pandemic, namely, test, trace, isolate, and now vaccinate. We have to get the all-island responses right and get supports, measures and controls and checks at ports and airports right. The reality is that in most of these areas, we simply have not done so.

I wish to address some issues that arose over the past 24 hours. It is really important that lessons are learned. The further kite-flying by the Tánaiste yesterday is an absolute disgrace. No lessons at all are being learned, and the Government is pushing back against public health advice, again trying to blame others for the fact that this State, including the Minister for Transport, the Minister present in his capacity as Minister for Health and the Government, has never done its job in relation to travel. The Government has been warned time and again by public health officials that the discretionary elements of travel need to be removed and quarantine needs to be mandatory. The Minister's opening statement stated the Government is moving from an advisory regime to a mandatory quarantine regime but that is not true. What he is proposing cannot be enforced and unless it is mandatory quarantine in hotels for all non-essential travellers, then we can forget about it, it is not going to work. The Minister has tripped himself up in interviews, as has the Taoiseach, in trying to explain the difference between self-isolation and home quarantining when the reality of the need to get those restrictions right is staring them in the face and has been for some time.

The kite-flying from the Tánaiste yesterday again, in competition with senior Ministers in Fianna Fáil, on when certain elements in the economy will re-open is another lesson that has not been learned. It is not what people want to hear. They want a clear plan and a clear strategy that is based on the public health advice. A strong message must be sent to the Government to stop the kite-flying and please stop the push-back against public health advice.

The Government should do its job and make sure that all of the protections and measures that need to be in place are put in place when people are making sacrifices. These public health restrictions that impact on workers, families and businesses are very challenging. Everybody accepts that. However, they become even more challenging when people see half-baked measures from the Government, which is not doing what it should be doing, not living up to its side of the bargain and, worse, kite-flying and pushing back against public health advice. Please, stop.

I want to make a brief point about what is happening in healthcare and the comments made by the healthcare trade unions yesterday. We heard of burnout and low morale from front-line healthcare workers, which all of us can understand given that they have been operating with one hand tied behind their backs. There is no serial testing of front-line workers in hospitals. What in God's name is going on if we are not even doing serial testing in hospitals except when there are outbreaks? How are we using testing and tracing to hunt down this virus? There is a battle every day for personal protective equipment, PPE. That is what the healthcare unions are telling us. The vaccine roll-out is haphazard in that it was not following the data that the Department has in respect of the highest rates of prevalence of the disease. Finally, we heard about issues relating to childcare.

The Minister must resolve these problems. He needs to get his act together. The Government needs to get its act together. It is clear that the strategy is not working. It is not working because of this push back time and again and because the Government has not made the investments where they need to be made and people are feeling very let down.

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