Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

My political party, Aontú, is vehemently opposed to this Bill and I will be voting against it, as I did in its previous incarnation. I have been amazed by the lack of analysis of what has happened in this society in recent months. The political and media classes have done little analysis of what is going on. I understand we have gone through a crisis and I understand that, at times, there was a danger of the health service being overwhelmed and protections needed to be put in place to make sure that did not happen. I also understand that Ireland was far more exposed than practically any other country owing to the fact that we have such a weak health service because there has been so little investment in it over recent decades. However, it must also be said that Ireland is a radical outlier in terms of the length and severity of the restrictions. No other European country comes near. The length of time and the severity of the restrictions here have been a multiple of those imposed in most other European countries. That fact has been under-analysed by the political and media establishment in this country, which is shocking. There has been no benefit to the restrictions. There is very little difference in mortality and morbidity as a result of Covid between Ireland and Germany.

Lockdown and restrictions are not cost-free exercises. They are extremely damaging tools in their own right. They push hundreds of thousands of people into poverty. They deny homes to people. They deny crucial treatment to people with cancer, heart disease and mental health illnesses. They are invasive, intrusive and draconian. Any argument for their use should only be at a time of serious catastrophe and emergency, and it is clear that Ireland is not in such a situation, or anything near it, today.

For much of the past year, the Government has bypassed the Dáil on oversight and accountability. It is amazing. I have watched taoisigh leave Government Buildings, drive past the Dáil, go to RTÉ studios and announce some of the most draconian laws and regulations that have ever been introduced.

Deputies have not had the opportunity to push, challenge or ask serious questions of the Government about what it is doing. The fact that this has been done with the collaboration of most of the Opposition parties is absolutely incredible. People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party all jumped on the zero-Covid bandwagon. It is an incredible situation. If we were to take these parties' logic to its conclusion - the idea that we must get to below ten cases per day before we could leave the most restrictive elements of lockdown - most of this country would not open for another six months.

Sinn Féin has been a major disappointment. The largest Opposition party has sat on the fence for most of the last number of months. There has not been a cigarette paper between Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for most of that time. As with the banking bailout vote, proper opposition was missing when it was needed.

The leader of the Social Democrats complained today that the Opposition was ignored. The Opposition voted in the legislation which facilitated it being ignored just a number of months ago. Aontú is the only political party that has actually provided real opposition to this whole process, along with a number of notable Independents.

Ireland is a Petri dish for groupthink. It has all the ingredients of herd mentality, with a small and excessively concentrated media and a careerist political class. The lack of critique, questioning and challenging is absolutely amazing. Some of those who asked questions lost their jobs and some were vilified and shut up.

There is a chilling effect in this country with regard to dissent, one of the most important elements of a healthy, functioning democracy. Deleting the ability for citizens to safely dissent creates a dangerous situation in any democracy. That groupthink has been obvious on many occasions in Irish society, including during the banking crisis and the housing crisis, but I have never seen it as pervasive as it has been during this crisis.

The majority of the vulnerable cohorts are, thankfully, vaccinated. This is not January. The numbers of people with Covid-19 in hospital and intensive care are, thankfully, extremely low. I am not saying we are out of the woods. I am saying the conditions do not warrant this legislation and it must be opposed.

Government policy has been a string of contradictions. Indoor dining will start on 2 June but we still do not have a proper date with regard to indoor dining in pubs and restaurants. There is no scientific logic to this. Is a hotel pint a kind, unassuming drink and a pint in a pub homicidal? Are chicken goujons in a hotel peaceful but chicken goujons in a pub malevolent? It is absolutely ludicrous. Open up all parts of the hospitality sector under the same regulations and use a bit of cop-on instead.

I tabled a parliamentary question last week, which revealed that 40,000 people have been fined so far under the legislation. That is an incredible number of people. In County Donegal, a helpline was introduced in order that locals could report on other locals with regard to breaching the restrictions. Partners of pregnant women were forced to wait in hospital car parks while women were giving birth. A priest in County Cavan was fined for saying mass. A Protestant pastor in Dublin was arrested. Children were gathering in Galway and a Fianna Fáil Senator said the Army should be brought out to tackle them. Some protests were banned while others were allowed to go ahead. That is an extremely strange situation in a democracy. All protests should have been allowed to proceed peacefully and safely.

It is also incredible that when one looks at those restrictions and at the political class pointing the finger at young people, protestors, families or husbands wanting to be in hospital to support their partners, the majority of people who died from Covid-19 caught it in one of two locations - a hospital or a nursing home. When the whole country ground to a halt, the epicentre and most significant and dangerous place for a person to catch and end up dying from Covid-19 was a hospital or nursing home, all of which are owned, run or regulated by the Government.

At the start of the pandemic, some nursing homes started to close their doors to visitors. The Government turned around, slapped them on the wrist and said "No" and that it was unnecessary. It is interesting that one of the reports that followed stated that the HSE intercepted supplies of personal protective equipment, PPE, oxygen and staff that were designated for nursing homes. The word "intercepted" was used by the current Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who was the then Opposition health spokesperson. Responses to freedom of information requests we submitted showed that the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, would not meet Mr. Tadhg Daly of Nursing Homes Ireland during that particular emergency.

I want to quote a statement the Minister for Health made in this House in March last year when the original Bill was going through Second Stage. At that time, he was the Opposition spokesperson on health. He said:

I have concerns about the fact that there are no real sunset clauses and that the provisions can be extended ... [on and on and on]. I also have concerns ... [about] the breadth of the designated people who can essentially tell a citizen that ... [they have] to stay ... [at] home.

That same Minister is running this legislation through the Dáil today. Where are the debates on the extension of the temporary assistance support scheme? The scheme is due to run out on 30 June and there is considerable alarm in Nursing Homes Ireland about the fact it has not received any commitment that the scheme will continue. It looks like the nursing homes, where people suffered the most, are in trouble again.

I will close with the words used by the Minister for Health in the Seanad yesterday when he said "... the powers we are discussing are draconian. They do not sit ... comfortably in any healthy democracy." That is an incredible statement to make, yet the Minister who used those words is about to introduce that legislation again.

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