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

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. In his overall presentation, he was essentially dealing with the negative impact that Covid-19 has had on all our lives, including in such areas as attending mass or other religious services, in construction and in other areas of life. The virus has upended our lives. It has not been the Government, the Dáil or the Oireachtas, but the virus. The problem now is that we have a virulent form of that virus in the B.1.1.7 variant, which is the dominant variant in the country. We need to be very careful in how we deal with that variant in respect of restrictions etc.

That is why in the next number of days we will spend much time talking and getting the epidemiological data. I am conscious that in the last several days the numbers of cases of Covid-19 have gone up, bar yesterday. Everybody in this House needs to take that on board and interrogate it. It is serious. We are rolling out the vaccination programme and we will have far more vaccines in the second quarter. Over 700,000 doses have been administered now and that is an important point. As we move through April in particular, we will have far more people vaccinated.

On funerals, I understand and accept fully the sincerity of the Deputy's presentation. I think it is terrible myself. Not being able to attend the funeral of a loved one is the one aspect of Covid-19 which hits people the hardest. The numbers of people who can attend funerals are very low. We will look at that. We have been asked by the churches to look at it. I am not giving any commitments or guarantees in relation to it because we want to protect people. Unfortunately, some events at some funerals, a minority, have led to a spread of the virus, not in the churches, it must be said, but at subsequent events. There have been very significant outbreaks related to funerals, unfortunately. Hence, the extreme caution and the regulations which have been put in place relating to funerals.

On construction, the evidence was that general mobility will give rise to the spread of this variant. I remember back in January when we had 2,000 people in hospital. At that time, everyone here was into suppressing the virus, into zero Covid and the prevailing mood in the Chamber was let us never open again given the extraordinary pressure that was on our hospitals and front-line healthcare workers. I did say at the time that I knew it would not be too long before Deputies would be coming back saying we should open this and that. I understand that, but we are dealing with a very transmissible variant and that is something we need to take on board. It is not the Government or anybody that is trying to stop people going back building. The Government wants a housing programme. It is our No. 1 priority for us socially in respect of building more homes, but this virus, and this variant of it, is upending the best laid plans and most of all the quality of people's lives.

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