Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----the fundamental objective of all public health advice we receive is to protect lives and livelihoods. Do not forget that - through the Chair. It is up to Government to operationalise that and we are in discussions at the moment with the hospitality sector with a view to having a plan ready by the 19th of this month. There is a big challenge facing us in respect of the Delta variant, not just in Ireland but across Europe and indeed across the world. One only has to look at what is happening in South Africa in respect of the impact of the Delta variant to see how we have to take these things seriously and take them out of the divisiveness of the partisan political debate I have witnessed too often in respect of Covid-19 in this House.

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