Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am also of the view that the Taoiseach should be here. He gave a press conference less than an hour ago. What is going on? Last summer we were able to have indoor dining without major incident and without vaccines. Now, 12 or 13 months later, and we are in a situation where more than 4 million vaccines have been administered and, despite already being an outlier in the context of Europe and the rest of the world, the Government is going to delay the reopening of the hospitality industry. That is pure madness. The Government is also planning a system of apartheid whereby it will introduce a two-tier society and create a situation in which families will be able to dine together indoors while young people are left outside. We expect those young people to serve in restaurants - and we know why - and work in other parts of the hospitality sector, in tourism outlets, in coach hire businesses and as tour guides.

NPHET advice is completely bonkers. It lacks both balance and an understanding of reality. Delaying the reopening of indoor entertainment, pubs and restaurants is like taking another wrecking ball to the economy. The lives of tens of thousands of individuals and families will be destroyed. People are holding on by their fingernails. A total of 200,000 jobs are on the line as the Government delays the return of indoor dining. There is a chance that the jobs in question could be lost permanently. It is not only indoor dining that will be affected but all indoor activities that we know of and the hospitality sector in general, including buses, taxis, you name it.

The discrepancy in the NPHET advice is so disproportionate it reminds me of the figures that were tossed around on the night before the bank guarantee was put in place. Its advice to the Government last evening was that the worst-case scenario would potentially see 700,000 cases of the virus in July, August and September, with as many as 2,170 deaths - God help us, that is a frightening figure - if the variant becomes dominant. The most optimistic projection is for 81,000 cases and 161 deaths. Which is it? The discrepancy between the two is a multiple of ten. This group of experts is advising the Government there might be 7,600 cases a day or there might be 800. Which is it? I ask the Minister to bring in an outside, independent - and probably from abroad - panel of experts. We have many scientists and doctors but they have all been silenced and banished. I also call out the media, which has run with this as if it were gospel. What is happening is outrageous.

We need an independent analysis of the NPHET advice. We have none. Has the Government sought independent advice? It was told this last night at a pre-Cabinet meeting. Did Ministers ask the questions? They are the people responsible to the House and, by extension, to the people. Will they send in Dr. Holohan to answer questions? He will not answer them and does not even meet us any more. Opposition leaders have not been briefed. This is outrageous. It is nonsense that is being dressed up as modelling. It is outrageous and is aimed at dividing our country and ruining it. It is dividing people. It is not going to run and it will not be accepted. I tell the Minister that.

NPHET modelling over the past 12 months has been wrong on almost every occasion. It has been wrong, wrong, wrong. It has been stupid and illogical. This is the most illogical idea I have ever seen. For the Taoiseach to wait until last night and earlier today to tell those people who have been expecting and anticipating for months that they would be reopening their businesses next Monday is shocking and disgraceful. They have spent money on stock, deep cleaning their premises and retraining staff. They have made all these efforts and they have been thrown under the bus again. It is outrageous.

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