Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

On Monday, the secretariat of the English-language education working group within the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science emailed all the English-language schools, giving them the power to reopen next Monday, 19 July. English-language students are, generally speaking, between the ages of 20 and 40. The overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. Many English-language teachers are also unvaccinated. There are 28 teachers in one school that I am aware of and only two of them have been fully vaccinated to date.

Bad and all as that situation is, it is even worse for the English-language stamp 2 visa students. Those are the 10,000 English language students from outside the EU. The law states that those students must attend 85% of classes if they are to be allowed to remain in the State. Failure to reach the 85% threshold means that they are liable to expulsion, that is, to deportation from the country. Many of those students are from countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey and others. A bitter irony is that many of those students work in the hospitality sector that the Government wishes to further reopen next week. They will be forced to give up their jobs or face the possibility of expulsion from the State. Many others work as caregivers and will be forced to give up their caregiving at short notice to return, more or less immediately, to education. Of course, some English language schools may choose not to reopen next Monday. They have been given a choice. Those that open will, however, be at a competitive advantage because they will be open for business and able to attract new students. That will place pressure on the unopened colleges to follow the unhealthy example of others and open up.

The English-language student union has contacted the embassies of Mexico, Turkey and Brazil to notify them of the fact that their citizens are being put at risk in this way by the Government. Furthermore, the English-language teachers branch of Unite is calling on all teachers and students to gather at the Spire next Monday at 12.30 p.m. and to march to the Department of Education in Marlborough Street. I am happy to use my voice here in the Dáil to support their call. I call on the Minister to intervene with his colleague to get this dangerous initiative reversed and to ensure that when the English colleges reopen, there is a higher rate of vaccination within society and at least a month's notice is given to the students. Health should always be put before profit. This is a particularly shocking example of the sway held by the opposite principle. The Government needs to reverse its position in this regard

In terms of the broader issues under debate, I will make the following points. Two weeks ago in the Netherlands, 500 Covid cases were recorded in one day. Two weeks later, that has risen to 10,000 cases in one day. That is the result of a premature reopening. That reopening was perhaps a bit more reckless than the one this Government is proposing, but it was a premature reopening. The Dutch Prime Minister went before his nation at the weekend and apologised for what happened. There should be real caution on this side of herd immunity. Health should be put before profit.

This legislation is also discriminatory. Until now, we have had, in a formal sense at least, equality before the law. We are now to have discrimination on the basis of health status. Pregnant women will be locked out simply because they are pregnant. People with health conditions who cannot take a vaccine will be locked out for that very reason. The majority of young people will be locked out because they have not received a vaccine. The young workers will, of course, be allowed into hospitality venues when they are unvaccinated to serve the vaccinated. The comparison between young workers in retail and young workers in hospitality is not entirely accurate. It is far easier to socially distance in retail than it is when one is working in a kitchen or a hospitality venue.

At least in name, the Government entered this pandemic under the banner of social solidarity. The practice did not always match the ideal but at least in words, the Government put forward that philosophy. It is now tearing that up and throwing it the wind. It is saying it will pursue a policy of discrimination on the basis of health status. That is wrong and it is a key reason why I, and I hope many other Deputies, will vote against this Bill.

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