Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the The Irish Timesonline ran a headline which stated: "Easing Covid restrictions: Ministers want as wide a reopening as possible". This is not the first lockdown. We have had three lockdowns and a number of premature reopenings. We had two premature reopenings which had disastrous consequences. We should remember December and also last June. Last June the number of cases per day and per week was at quite a low level. If we had held out for a couple more weeks and had in place proper test and trace and proper international travel restrictions, we could have had zero Covid in this country. That does not mean zero cases but it means a very low number of cases that can be controlled. However, the Government reopened last June, under pressure from business interests and lobbies. Instead of having zero Covid, since then 3,000 people have died as a result of this disease. We should be in a position to be able to have a full reopening reasonably quickly if proper test and trace systems had been put in place by the Government but it has failed to do that. The reopening that is being discussed poses two questions. Is there a danger of another premature reopening? Is the Government in danger of opening the door to a fourth wave? The Government may say that this is different and that vaccination is under way. Vaccination is well under way in Chile.

It has a target of 80% by the end of June, which is exactly the same as us. In fact, it has vaccinated almost double the amount of its population that we have. However, a premature reopening there has resulted in a major wave that has put its hospital system under pressure. Will the Minister comment on these points? My advice is to be careful. The Government should not lose the run of itself. I detect in the comments of one or two Ministers in recent days a little bit of a tinge of what we heard in December. I would like the Minister to comment on these points.

See this speech in context