Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is nothing short of farce. It reminds me of a sketch from "Killinaskully", but it is not funny as it is destroying people's livelihoods. It is mainly an attack on the young people of Ireland. If it was a sketch from "Killinaskully", people might laugh, but it is reality. Some 260,000 jobs are being affected. Between €5 billion and €7 billion has been lost to the economy. Most of these businesses have been closed for 400 days. Imagine closing a business for 400 days and trying to survive with the door shut. Now the gun is to their head. The Minister is telling them they can open but they will open the Government's way. They will stand on the doorstep and say "Yes" to one person and "No" to another. If a poor gentleman or lady comes along and says he or she forgot their certificate but he or she was there last week, he or she probably cannot be allowed in. The business people are being put in an incredible situation. They will not be able to cope with it. It will lead to massive job losses and business closures. I warn the Minister that will be the situation.

It will divide families. We will have situations where a son or daughter cannot go, but a mother and father can go in to have food. It is a terrible division. It is something I could never agree to. The legislation is rushed. That was proven yesterday when the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, said Covid certificates would be available from GPs and we should not worry as everything would be sorted. The GPs came out straight away and said, "what the hell". They said they had nothing to do with it and they should not be put in the position of trying to resolve the mess. The Tánaiste then came out and said GPs would have nothing to do with it. The Government is all over the place because it is rushing and in such a panic to get the Bill across the line so that it can get a pat on the back from the Opposition.

Deputies from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and Senators from both parties have been crying crocodile tears for all the publicans and business people in recent months and now they have a chance tonight to stand by them. They have a chance to stand by every publican and restaurant owner that they promised to stand by. We will watch carefully to see how they vote. Will they vote to destroy the livelihoods of those people further or will they vote against this nonsensical carry-on and start getting this country properly reopened?

A previous speaker said some people here want to open regardless of the dangers and that they do not care what happens. We do. We have a very clear motion tonight. We want to make sure that the people who go into pubs and restaurants sanitise properly, wear masks where possible and maintain social distancing but at least they should be allowed in. It should be up to the businesses and the customers themselves as to how they behave and not have the Government dictating to them.

A total of 2 million people are vaccinated in this country and 3 million people are not. That is a lot of people who are going to be kicked outside the door in the coming months and God only knows for how long. The Government has now created a two-tier society, the first attempt by any Government to segregate people in this country in a century. I say "Well done" to the Minister. He will never be forgotten for what he has done to people.

I could refer to several farcical situations that will arise. We will have people in the hospitality industry working hard in bars and restaurants who are 18 or 19 years of age and who are not vaccinated, through no fault of their own. They are working all night serving people who are having a few drinks or some food, but if their boss gives them a ten-minute or 15-minute break at 11 p.m., they have to run outside the door. The Minister has not considered such a situation, whereby unvaccinated workers are in the premises all night. I really do not know where we are going with this legislation. All I can do is plead with Government Deputies to wake up and not support the Bill.

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