Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Creed that, listening to this debate, it is hard to believe that this is the same Opposition which was demanding zero Covid and total mandatory quarantine for every country. The reality is that we have the most restrictive travel regime in Europe. Non-essential travel is not permitted in any circumstance. Quarantine is required for 100% of the people flying into this country, albeit many of them can spend their quarantine in a home. That has a chilling impact on people who have to come here to do business. There is mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers from Belgium, Canada, France and the USA. All of those countries are close partners of ours, with which we do continuous business.

Massive progress has been made in removing the risk associated with the Covid virus. Hospitalisation is down by 95%. The 14-day average incidence rate is now less than 0.1% of the population. Half of our population has either been vaccinated or recovered from the virus. Three quarters of over-65s had been vaccinated two weeks ago. That removed over 92% of the risk of casualty from this virus. There is a significant need to rebalance the risk, pain and suffering, both economic and social, associated with the travel restrictions. It is important that Ministers look hard at this matter. Public health advisers are, of course, experts in public health but they are not experts in seeking to balance those very substantial economic, social and personal costs that people are suffering during the restrictions against the small risks that still remain.

We must be conscious of new variants but a balance must be struck in this debate. I have not understood who is doing that balancing, looking at those other costs that occur and balancing them against the risks. As we make progress, there must be a rebalancing. I urge Ministers to consider at the importance of the changes in travel for a small island economy, as many others have said. We must listen to Professor Mark Ferguson who has said that antigen testing has a place, certainly for frequent travellers.

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