Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I have been listening with interest to previous speakers from across the House. Nobody is comfortable with this legislation. Even within the Minister's own party, I hear people speaking about it and about the concerns they have.

The legislation, as it was put before us yesterday, is very confusing. It is confusing for us in the sense that I still cannot get why we must do this. We want to open up the hospitality sector in a safe way but there are many contradictions within this and regarding how it will work on the ground. That is what I am hearing from the small pubs and the restaurants. These family-run business do not know how they are going to police this. They do not know how they are going to stand at the door and ask somebody what age he or she is, whether he or she has a vaccine certificate and can he or she prove it. At the same time a business may have some unvaccinated family members serving the food or drink inside. It is very important to realise that while the spirit of the legislation may be to get the business open, I believe it is unworkable. There are also contradictions. If this legislation is passed, we would have a situation whereby a family may dine indoors with their 17-year-old son or daughter one week but cannot do so a week later when that son or daughter is 18 years of age, and not vaccinated. How is that to be dealt with? How is it fair or logical? At present, if a person stays in a hotel for a staycation, he or she is served food in the restaurant. That person is not asked whether her or she is vaccinated, nor should he or she be. Effectively we are doing certain things that are dividing the whole process and the whole industry. People have talked of the legal issues and the constitutional issues here and the additional responsibilities I see being put on the owners of pubs and restaurants. This legislation will put them in a position whereby they could be brought to court if they do not do it properly and they could find this compromises them for future licence applications. As such, all these things must be looked at. Too much responsibility is being put on the staff and owners of restaurants and pubs. It is unfair on these people that they must take on this law and pay the consequences if they cannot implement it. Last year we had much conversation about the pubs and the way they were divided on the basis that some were wet pubs and others could serve food. Now we are saying people are to be divided into those who are vaccinated and those who are not. As other speakers have asked, what happens to the person who cannot take the vaccine? How is he or she to be treated under this legislation? Why do we divide people when we have always said we are in this together, which we should all be?

Members of the Regional Group of Deputies have been talking of the need to have antigen testing since the pandemic arose. That has never been brought in or accepted by the advisers or the medical experts or whatever it is. For some unknown reason there has been a stumbling block to the introduction of antigen testing or rapid PCR testing. I understand the Minister is now saying that will be looked at. That is not good enough if we are bringing in legislation like this, which is creating so much concern for so many Members of this House right across the board. There are issues of constitutionality, of the measure dividing people and upsetting them and of it being unworkable, contradictory and confusing. It is important we have more in this legislation. The fact this legislation is being discussed only now, with the summer recess coming up this week, is probably an affront to everybody in the House, in that we do not have the proper time to deal with this very important legislation in a proper manner.

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