Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I want to make it clear that I cannot support this draconian legislation. Where is it going to end? Are we moving towards dictatorship in this country? It was always said that things would change once the most vulnerable were vaccinated. People in their 70s and over got their vaccines first and on it went down through those in their 60s and 50s. Now people in their 40s are being vaccinated. I saw a statistic today showing that chemotherapy appointments are down by 12%. Unfortunately, there are people suffering from cancer who have either been neglected or are not going into hospitals. That is going to be a problem in the next year or maybe sooner. People needing different operations, whether for cataracts or anything else, are having their treatment kicked down the road, all in the name of Covid. There are going to be consequences to that. Mental health issues, especially in young people, will be a major problem.

Looking at the recovery plan yesterday, with the billions that will be thrown at X, Y and Z, I heard it said that the country is going to take off like a Ferrari. One thing I can tell the Minister is that young people around the country will not take off like a Ferrari because they cannot get a driver licence at the moment. They cannot even get a theory test. It probably suits some people in certain offices not to have those theory tests taking place. It is absolutely scandalous. In the agricultural sector, it is not possible at this time to get a youngster who can drive a tractor to bring in silage. There are fathers and mothers on farms around the country who are reliant on youngsters to do a certain amount of tractor work. People cannot avail of the simple process of applying to answer 35 to 40 questions. There was a big hoo-ha about bringing in an online system. After 15 months of talking about it, the system is now parked because the appointments are all booked out. Everybody who got an offer of a theory test appointment, which they were told would be done in the next few days, have since received an email telling them they will not be taken. Does anyone in the Government understand that the likes of agricultural work is summer work? Do they understand that silage is made over the next month from now? It is not done in October in November, when the Government's powers will lapse. In fact, those powers may not even need to be renewed if things keep going the way the Government is proposing.

As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae said, we have had all the talk about opening up the country. I have heard many people criticising others for congregating, to drink or whatever they were at, in different parts of the country. Yet, the Government is telling everyone we will be having an outdoor summer and Tourism Ireland is promoting that. Do people forget that we were all young once? Would any of us have liked to be locked up when we were young for 15 months, unable to go out to a nightclub or disco or to meet friends? What is going on is not normal. It is fortunate that we are in a situation where, from now on, the Minister should be able to do without these powers. A line was crossed in that regard when it came to churches. Regardless of what religion we are talking about, and I am not referring to any specific faith, we were told in the Dáil that churches and priests would not be affected. On the day members of the Garda went into a church, I believe we crossed a fine line in this country.

The Government needs to rethink and take responsibility for its decisions. We are constantly hearing that such-and-such an expert said this and such-and-such an expert said that. We do not seem to do any reports in this country but we rely on every report from every other country. Everyone else is making the decisions for us and the view is that if it goes wrong, someone else can be blamed and the Government will not have to shoulder any responsibility. Government is for governance and taking decisions. Ministers can listen to everybody and take their view into account but the Government must make the decisions.

Can the Minister do something in the Department of Transport to help young people get their licences? This issue is affecting their mental health. Young people in rural areas want to earn a few pounds by helping their parents or the contractors on farms. We are talking about a recovery and putting loads of people back to work. The first thing people need to be able to do is drive a car or tractor if they are to go to work. It is as simple as that, especially in rural Ireland. There is no bus or any other way of getting to work.

It looks like the Minister is not going to accept any of the amendments that have been put forward, including the ones tabled by my group. He has decided that he will be in charge of everything, lock, stock and barrel. He will write statutory instruments as he feels like it and then toddle along. That is not good for the country. A country should be run as a democracy and all of these decisions should be debated in the Dáil. If something crops up, one, two, three or four weeks after these powers run out, I am damn sure every politician in this House will come in here to deal with it, as they did before. They were always willing, in fairness, to give their tuppence worth and do things democratically. However, this idea of statutory instruments and so on has led to a back-door system. I recall that the habitats directive was signed into law by our now President as a statutory instrument. When such measures are not debated in the Dáil, anything can be done by way of statutory instrument.

This situation has gone too far. If the Minister listens to people, that is what they are saying. I am not talking about people who are against everything. Most people we talk to day by day are saying the time has come and the hour is here that the Government must start letting go of these powers. People do not know whether we are in level 5, level 4 or level 3 at the moment. One thing and another is opening next week and the hairdressers are already open. Have we moved away from the levels altogether and on to a different system? I ask the Minister to rethink where we are going in this. The ordinary Joe Soap speaks a lot of common sense, if one listens to what he is saying.

I have had a large number of telephone calls today from youngsters who are desperate to earn a few pounds. They will not get the PUP because they were not working before Covid. They are trying to get a few quid together. There is a major problem for farming contractors around the country, who are left with machines standing idle because of a lack of people to work them. Unless it tackles these issues and makes sure they are sorted out, all we are getting from the Government is bluster. It took five or six months of head scratching before an online driver theory test was brought in and, within two days, it was all over, with appointments booked out until 2022 or 2023. Will the Government do something that works and will help people, instead of bringing in more draconian powers? When is this craic of bringing in more and more powers going to end? This country is not a dictatorship and it is not run by communists. We believe in democracy and the Government working with people. I ask the Minister to rethink the whole Bill.

Fortunately, we are getting to where we want to be.

As more opens, the country is coming back. I spoke to a couple today. Yes, the EWSS was and is important, but why did the Government not do something constructive and go to a bank and tell it not to refuse people on the EWSS or their employers their mortgages? I know several people who have been approved for a mortgage but who, because they are on the EWSS, will not get the mortgage now. Their lives are on hold. They do not know where they are going. They have been in that position for a year or 15, 16 or 17 months. Just for good measure, while that has gone on, their costs have gone up by probably €40,000 each for the same house, so there is more money to borrow and maybe they will have to go back to the bank to be refused for the lot.

For God's sake, we need to listen to the people on the ground. They will learn us more than anyone what we need to do. No one is reckless. I am not talking about recklessness. I am talking about people who have common sense and who have adhered to a lot of stuff over the past 15 months.

Think of our youth as well. It is not natural for youngsters of 16, 17 and 18 to be in under your feet of a Saturday night. You are gone early every Saturday night or Sunday night when you are young, wild and free. We have to start helping out those people. If we do not, there will be a revolt against us.

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