Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will continue from where I stopped yesterday. I was talking about the level of communications we have been receiving from people in recent weeks. I do not believe these are from conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers or Covid hoaxers. Some of their arguments have some basis in reality. They argue that the Act has caused an unacceptable level of collateral damage and suffering, including in relation to physical and mental health, loneliness and isolation, increased domestic violence, and damage to the livelihoods of many people. Public opinion is moving rapidly against the continuing lockdown which Part 3 enables, with a Kantar-Sunday Independentpoll finding “huge frustration with the level of Covid restrictions” and 50% believe the lifting of restrictions is too slow. Human rights and civil liberties must be respected, even when this is difficult. They note that a liberal democratic society does not abandon its commitment to human rights and civil liberties as soon as that commitment becomes inconvenient. They argue lockdowns are not a normal pandemic response and, in fact, represent a radical departure from normal practice in responding to pandemics. Moreover, the original rationale for the restrictions - to flatten the curve - has long since passed. It is difficult to argue with some of these points. Indeed, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, produced and circulated an analysis on the renewal of emergency Covid-19 powers earlier this month.

I note that the Seanad began the debate on this Bill at the start of this week and it is again being rushed through. Tuesday saw the Committee and Remaining Stages of the Bill in the Seanad before it came to us. I would like to acknowledge the work of some Senators, particularly those in the Civic Engagement Group, who put forward detailed and proportionate amendments. I agree it is unacceptable to create provisions for rolling three-month renewals of the legislation.

There are growing concerns about the spread of a new variant in England and the efficacy of the vaccines against this new variant. None of us knows what is coming and what could happen next, but what we do have is 15 months of experience. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of what the English have done in their vaccine programme because the variants can run riot in a half-vaccinated population.

I reiterate my support for public health measures and the need for some emergency measures. Again, at the beginning of the pandemic, we did not know what was going to happen and what we were going to do. However, I will not just pander to the Government because of public health concerns. I have had public health concerns for those working in meat packing factories and I still have concerns for those in overcrowded and congregated settings, such as direct provision.

The ICCL has called for a “meaningful and robust debate” on the extension of the Covid-19 legislative measures. Senators were not given time for a meaningful and robust debate. I note, however, that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, while addressing Committee and Remaining Stages in the Seanad on Tuesday, said that he would look at bringing an amendment on Committee Stage in the Dáil for just one five-month extension. That decision followed the debate in the Seanad on Monday and the concerns raised there, and I look forward to seeing that amendment.

The ICCL analysis asks for the following: a meaningful and publicly demonstrated proportionality test; better consultation with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC; pre-legislative scrutiny; Oireachtas approval; a limit on broad powers; a regular review of powers extended to gardaí and Ministers; and a human rights impact assessment. It is an excellent and measured analysis and I thank the ICCL for consistently providing much-needed analysis to Oireachtas Members. I agree with the ICCL’s point that enforcing public health should be based on education and advice. It pointed to behavioural science research that indicated positive reinforcement of messaging, targeted communication and provision of supports would ensure compliance, capability, opportunity, and motivation at a higher rate than the threat of punishment. An example of this was the Garda hotline set up in Donegal for people to report others for breaching restrictions. The hotline was discontinued very soon after launch because it was never going to work. That is not the way to motivate the public.

The Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill is quite a name for legislation. There is much that needs to be improved in our health service and also in our criminal justice system. The facts and figures available on the Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, website about the prison population across Ireland include the following: there are 3,831 people in prison custody in Ireland; the rate of imprisonment in Ireland is approximately 73 per 100,000 of the general population; the overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2019 was 3,971 compared with 3,893 in 2018, an increase of 2%; the majority of Irish prisoners have never sat a State examination and over half left school before the age of 15; the average number of females in custody in 2019 was 170, a 3% increase on the 2018 average of 165; the daily average number of female offenders in custody rose by 29% in the ten-year period between 2006 and 2016; and as of October 2020, there are 47 people in prison slopping out, without in-cell sanitation. The list goes on.

The figures for the restricted regime do not include the Covid-19 infection control measures. The Prison Service worked very well in keeping Covid out of the prisons but it meant that most people were on restricted regimes of long lock-up. We should think about these facts and figures as they give an insight into the much bigger problems in our criminal justice system. There has been a huge increase in the number of women prisoners, most likely to be from deprived areas, and a big increase in those not paying fines, and this extends further to our policing of marginalised communities and deprived areas.

On the Garda Síochána website, the statistics on Covid-related fines has some categories separated out under “fine offenders”. Some 74% of those fined are male, 53% are in the 18 to 25 age group and 24% are in the 26 to 35 age group. Most of the fines were given out on Saturdays and Sundays, and the southern region has the highest number of fines issued, at 6,157, with Cork city and Limerick being the areas with the highest number of fines in that region. Some 886 fines have been given out in Donegal out of 5,013 in the north-western region. There are better ways to go about things and I believe increasing Garda powers is not one of them, especially not until unconscious bias training has taken place and is implemented across the force. I said months ago that it would be interesting to see the level of policing in different postcode areas and the likelihood of those getting away with breaching restrictions depending on their address or socioeconomic status.

It is nearly a year since I started calling for a zero-Covid strategy, instead of the stop-start disaster that has been the modus operandi of the Government. Since Fine Gael handed over the Department of Taoiseach and Department of Health to Fianna Fáil, it feels like Leo, Harris and company have been sitting back, rubbing their hands with glee, and watching Fianna Fáil internally combust. The public has lost confidence in the Government’s handling of the pandemic. Yes, pandemic fatigue is a thing, but when the Minister for Health starts comparing the dangers of trampolines and road safety to an unprecedented airborne global pandemic, people start to take things less seriously.

I do not agree with the extra powers being extended for the Garda and I definitely do not agree with unlimited powers being extended to the Government. That is the reality of the situation.

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