Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Sherlock. Without wanting to get ahead of ourselves, I am taking to my feet in a debate on aviation where it genuinely feels as though there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The EU digital Covid certificate is that light. I am somewhat encouraged by the speech of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Taoiseach's statement earlier today, as reported in the media, that it is full steam ahead for the EU digital Covid certificate. This is where the rubber meets the runway as regards whether or not aviation will recover. If we do not get this right as a country and implement it as soon as is practicable, in a manner that protects public health, then any chance our aviation sector has of a full recovery will be lost. The Government is finally getting it and is willing to push this issue as quickly as possible. I have worked with my colleague Deputy Sherlock on this matter and we do not see any obvious reason this certificate cannot be introduced as soon as possible. There are variants of concern but we have measures in place to catch and control them. We have testing at a level that we did not have a year ago, as well as mandatory hotel quarantine, which will be amended and shifted towards being a method for tackling variants and a measure of last resort. That is encouraging as well. There should not be any IT issues with this roll-out. Willie Walsh of the International Air Transport Association, IATA, gave a presentation to the transport committee last week in which he said that an awful lot of work has been done by the industry to ensure that the IT systems are up to where they need to be to deliver this. That is encouraging.

We ask that the principles of the EU digital Covid certificate also be applied to the common travel area and to areas in which vaccination levels are high, such as North America. There are 128 million fully vaccinated people in the United States at the moment - not just people with one shot but fully vaccinated - and there are 30 million people fully vaccinated in the UK. We have those data. Rapid antigen testing must play a role here. Professor Mark Ferguson, the chief scientific adviser to the Government, has delivered a strong report on the use of rapid antigen testing. That must play a role, particularly for people returning to Ireland. It is full steam ahead. We will be keeping the pressure on the Government but hopefully the penny is finally dropping.

There are workers outside the House today representing pilots. Workers in Shannon and Cork airports have lost their jobs. Hopefully those jobs can be recovered but there is an awful lot of despair and we must acknowledge that and ensure that any work that can be done to recover those jobs is done as quickly as possible. It is lamentable that the supports given by this Government to the aviation industry were not contingent on protecting jobs and job conditions, and there will be no forgiveness for that. That is something the Government will never be able to run away from.

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