Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On my second day in the Dáil, I told the Tánaiste that it was as if the Taoiseach was driving a bus but the Tánaiste was trying to push it off the road and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications was asleep in the back. Everything seems to have been the same since then. Every time the Government makes a decision, it has to change it because it does not talk to sectors such as hospitality. I spoke to people aged between 18 and 20 last week who told me that they are serving people who are dining outside or staying in hotels. Last week, the Taoiseach stated that people visiting pubs should be asked if they are vaccinated. People working in the hospitality sector asked whether it will be the case that they will be allowed to serve people all day long but, come the weekend, if they want to go out themselves, they will be told, sorry, they cannot come in because they are not vaccinated. The Government has now said it will roll out vaccination to those aged 18 upwards. This is like closing the gate when the cattle are outside on the road. The Government is second best all the time.

We always talk about European law. Under a European law adopted in January 2021, we must ensure that citizens are informed that the vaccination is not mandatory and that nobody should be under political, social or other pressure to be vaccinated. Europe is saying that we cannot use political pressure. The Taoiseach has done the opposite. What will the Government do? People are taking the vaccines. People in the vaccination centres have been outstanding but under European law, the Government was told it could not use political pressure. There is an old saying, "you will get an awful lot more with honey than you will with vinegar." The Government would want to start using a bit of honey, start encouraging people and stop dictating what people can and cannot do. People in Ireland are responsible for themselves. They are responsible for and will look after their own health.

The Government should stop messing people around. It has already messed around with regard to indoor dining. It seems to be messing everything up. I have said before that there is such a thing as an educated fool - someone who is over-educated and has no common sense. The Government is over-educated and has no common sense but members of the Rural Independent Group will give it plenty of common sense if it would like to adopt our policies.

See this speech in context