Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Bhí muid uilig ag lorg plean chun an earnáil fáilteachais a oscailt fá choinne gach aon duine go sábháilte, ach ní sin atá i gceist anseo. Níl cothrom na Féinne anseo do dhaoine óga. Bhí muid an-mhall ag déanamh oibre mar gheall ar rolladh amach vacsaíní do dhaoine óga. Níl go leor oibre déanta mar gheall ar thástáil gasta antigen nó PCR. Rinne an Rialtas praiseach den phlean a cur in iúl do dhaoine agus do na meáin chumarsáide. Níl verifier app ann go fóill do na tithe tábhairne agus na bialanna. Plean dochreidte atá i gceist agus ní bheidh muid in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt don phlean amaideach seo. Níl sé chun oibriú agus níl sé seo maith go leor.

I am in agreement with a lot of people in the Chamber today that we just have not done enough. We all wanted a plan for hospitality to open for everybody and we all wanted to do it safely. Talking about antigen testing being introduced at a later stage tells me, and I assume it tells others, that we have failed to do the preparatory work on this plan, whether that is for antigen testing or the rapid PCR test that exists. At times NPHET gets blamed for these things but Dr. Tony Holohan has said previously to the health committee that it is not his job to carry out pilot projects. He said that from time to time that there was an insufficient amount of evidence. The onus should have been on the Government to carry out those pilot schemes or to communicate with our friends across Europe who have carried out pilot tests in many sectors and in respect of reopening. What we have here is a plan that will leave young people outside. That is just not good enough. We have fallen away from everybody being in this together and we have fallen away from the whole idea of equality. We have a plan that an awful lot of people do not believe is going to work. There are technical difficulties with the digital Covid certificate. The verifier app exists for airlines but the system cannot be used in bars, restaurants, hotels and wherever else. What we have is half a plan that has come very late and it does not look like it will deliver. It will neither provide health protections nor facilitate hospitality properly. We need to go back to the drawing board because this is just not going to cut it.

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