Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has taken a number of big gambles in the management of the Covid pandemic. The biggest was the decision to reopen at the end of November last year. To put it mildly, those gambles did not pay off. The Taoiseach is taking another big gamble now in relation to the Delta variant. We hope that gamble pays off and we are able to achieve sufficient levels of full vaccination, in particular of vulnerable groups, before the Delta variant becomes dominant here. If, however, the gamble not to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine for those coming from England, Scotland and Wales does not pay off, we will be in a crisis and there will be negative consequences for people's health and long Covid and there will be extra unnecessary deaths. We will also be in a position where not only will the reopening of indoor dining and pubs scheduled for the start of July have to be delayed but other measures may have to be reversed. Obviously, nobody wants to be in that situation but if we are, will the Taoiseach take responsibility for the decision he has made and will he own up to it at that point? It will be difficult to convince people that we need another lockdown to stop the Delta variant but that is, unfortunately, the position we might be in four, five or six weeks from now if the Delta variant becomes dominant. The reason for that will be that we did not do what we could have done at this point to try to slow its spread.

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