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

A month ago I raised in the Dáil the need for us to take action to slow down the spread of the Delta variant in Ireland, including mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers from Britain. I raised it again with the Taoiseach last week and he said the Government is not taking any risk in terms of the Delta variant. When I first raised it, we had a small number of cases of the Delta variant in Ireland but now one in five cases is the Delta variant. In Britain, they have slowed down and delayed the reopening. Belgium has now closed its borders to travellers from Britain in order to stop the spread of the Delta variant. We know that it is more transmissible, and that one dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca is not very effective against it. We know that young people, who make up a majority of the staff in the hospitality sector, have overwhelmingly not been vaccinated. Does the Government still think that it is not taking any risks? Is it still planning to go ahead with the reopening of indoor hospitality on 5 July? Is the Government planning to do anything about the crucial issue of ventilation, which the experts have been screaming about for a year in terms of new regulations and funding to ensure there is proper ventilation in indoor hospitality and elsewhere?

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