Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak. I thank the Minister and the vast majority of Deputies who made such considered responses, although I was struck that Deputy Paul Murphy, who is leaving the Chamber, demanded mandatory hotel quarantine for Great Britain but made no mention of what the impact of Northern Ireland having an open border with Great Britain wold be. I question his cynicism in placing ideology at the heart of this debate when the vast majority of us would like to work together on a sector that is facing immense difficulties caused by this pandemic. We would like to work collectively.

I will briefly make the point of the importance of this country seizing the opportunity with the digital green certificates. This cannot be optional. We need to be at the heart of the European conversation on this and we must be part of the first wave of EU member states which adopt and embrace the certificate.

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