Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The aggressive transmissibility of the Delta variant and the danger it poses were not new to the Taoiseach yesterday. The Government has known about that for a considerable time, as has NPHET. How is it that we are at lastminute.com again, with eleventh hour decision-making again? As I said, the Government is marching this sector up the hill only to march it back down, again? It is divisive to single out young people who do not have the opportunity to avail of vaccination and tell them they can work in the hospitality sector but they cannot avail of it. That is wrong and divisive.

The Taoiseach asked me what should happen. The sector should be reopened, and safely. A clear plan for that should be set out. We should have a Government that is not announcing days beforehand that this will not, in fact, happen. When will young people be vaccinated? What is the timetable for that? What of antigen and PCR testing? How will the Government deploy these measures to ensure that when the sector is reopened everybody, including the young, who run these services to an enormous extent, can also avail of them? The Taoiseach should answer that. He is, after all, the Taoiseach.

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