David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mandatory hotel quarantine and PCR testing are and were essential tools to prevent the importation of new and existing strains of the virus. The public health advice on both has been clear for the best part of a year. As my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, it was something the Government came late to the table with, despite not only the public health experts in Government and those advising Government, but those outside of Government, asking the Government to move much quicker in this area.

Nobody wants any public health measures to be in place any longer than necessary. The vaccine is being rolled out. The more progressive it is and the faster and more efficient it has become and, I hope, will continue to become, presents us opportunities to start looking at easing restrictions. We are seeing that already in different sectors. We have to plan for a safe reopening of aviation travel and the wider tourist potential as well.

We do not want a situation in which some parts of Europe are open for business, in terms of tourism, and this State is left behind and not prepared. It is prudent we look at this as a Europe-wide initiative, but we also have to keep our autonomy on decisions we need to make to protect this State against new variants and to ensure the restrictions which are beginning to be eased and will continue to be eased in June and July when further easing of restrictions will happen. They to be jealously protected and guarded.

We cannot take any chances and do anything which would put reopenings in the time ahead at risk. They have to be our number one priority, because it means so much to people there is some level of normality returning. All the businesses which opened last week and the people who went back to work after a long time period out of work, will want that to be continued. We hope that it is, in terms of the restrictions we ease, and that we will not go back to any of those restrictions being in place again.

In that context, we are having a debate on international travel. Mandatory quarantine should not be in place for a minute longer than necessary. I welcome and my party supported, the EU-wide Covid-19 certificate at European Union level. It makes sense to have a single application which pulls together all the Covid-19 related testing and the vaccine for individuals. I also welcome this will be in both digital and paper format. That is important as well.

I am taking it that it will be up to each member state to decide what element of the testing or vaccine will be required to prevent people from having to quarantine in a hotel and on any other measures in place.

It remains to be seen how that is going to work out in this State and what the Government will do. What is certain is that whatever happens, the aviation sector will continue to be deeply affected in the months and years ahead. The sector needs to be supported, which means continuing to support airlines to make sure they stay afloat, but this also has to be about protecting jobs. When funding is being made available through taxpayers' money, which is needed to shore up and protect the aviation sector and airlines, the quid pro quomust be that those airlines protect jobs. We cannot be providing taxpayers' money to shore them up on the one hand and then have major job losses on the other. That is not a quid pro quoand would not be in the best interests of the people of this State.

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