Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Has the Minister ever heard the saying "You could confuse the nation"? I am afraid the Government has passed with honours. Old sayings are coming back to bite it because it still has not learned. We spoke about the European Parliament and legislation that was passed by the EU in January prohibiting political pressure from being used to get people to get a vaccine, but the Government is now doing that in an inverted way even though it is always talking about European laws.

We are discussing the reopening of small to medium-sized businesses, including family-run ones, but the only initiative the Government can come up with is a divide - divide families, divide neighbours, divide friends. I am a father of four ranging from 13 years of age to 23. The Government has caused a divide by its failure to get vaccines for people aged 18 years and upwards. Europe failed. It was second to the post again, crying while looking for vaccines. This was like looking for funding to rebuild our country. Our Government sought €1 billion and only got €915 million whereas countries with the same populations sought €10 billion and have received €6.3 billion. Everything it seems to do is second best, although it got 100% honours in confusing the nation. I commend it on that.

We are discussing family-run pubs and restaurants that only have one or two people running them. They are small businesses. I visited many of them around County Limerick recently. In Hospital, for example, Molly's is serving people outside. It is a two or three-person organisation, but now the Government wants it to have someone standing at the door telling people whether they are allowed inside. I was in Ardpatrick, Kilmallock and Newcastle West. The Government wants these small businesses to get people to stand at their doors and ask people personal questions about whether they are vaccinated. They might not be vaccinated for medical reasons. This is not right. People who come to the door can be asked what age they are and they have to show identification. The Government is stopping brothers and sisters from going into a restaurant or pub, but they can all go into the hotel next door, sit down and have a few drinks at their table as a family. The regulations place limits on table numbers, though, and hotels want to bring other people inside, so if the family moved next door or down the street, only two of them could go inside while the other two would have to stay outside. I imagine that if we asked children in primary school to come up with a better solution, they would have beaten the Government hands down.

The Government has rushed this Bill. There has been no pre-legislative scrutiny or common sense. I am speaking for myself, but the Rural Independent Group, of which I am a member, has been looking for the hospitality sector to reopen safely. People should follow the regulations that are in place, observe social distancing, wear a mask, be safe and be careful of others for the sake of their safety as well. That is what the Rural Independent Group has asked for. It is common sense, which the Government is lacking.

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