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

As I listened to the Taoiseach's press statement yesterday when he spoke about us being in a race between the vaccine and the variant, I was reminded of something I said in the Dáil on 27 May last:

We are, therefore, in a race against time to complete two doses of vaccines before the Indian variant becomes dominant here. It is a race we are likely to lose unless we take action, and it is very simple. We need to follow the advice that is being given to implement mandatory hotel quarantine at airports and ports for travellers coming from Britain.

It seems that the Government has only woken up and realised that we are in a race when the opponent is already halfway to the finishing line. Two weeks ago, I asked the Taoiseach if he regretted taking the risk of not going for mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers from England, Scotland and Wales and he rejected the idea that there was any risk involved at all. Now, with the Delta variant becoming dominant, we are left with no safe choice other than to say that indoor hospitality and dining cannot reopen on 5 July. Does the Taoiseach regret that decision? Does he regret the decision made by his Government not to act on the clear warnings that were issued, not to try to slow the spread of the Delta variant, the consequence of which is the situation we are in now?

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