David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the public health restrictions. The motion has been tabled at a time when emergency legislation is being rammed through the Dáil today and will be rammed through the Seanad tomorrow. What we have seen in recent weeks is absolutely unacceptable. Two weeks ago, the people of Ireland were expecting a plan from the Taoiseach. The hospitality sector was expecting a plan. The Taoiseach took to a podium and essentially said that he was sorry, but the public health advice had only just come in, the Government did not have a plan and would need a couple of weeks to cobble something together and come back on it. It has now come back and put a plan on the table. From my perspective, the plan is divisive, discriminatory and unfair. That is the context for this discussion.

The public health advice was what it was. I and others attended a briefing by the Chief Medical Officer at which he made it clear that several assumptions were being made about the spread of the variant. I take a very responsible approach to public health and have done so since I took up my role as Opposition health spokesperson. We have to keep people safe and anything we do has to be done with a view to opening sections of society as safely as we can. I have told the Government time and again that is what we need to do. However, what we got from NPHET was modelling that did not factor in changes since made to the vaccine roll-out. I welcomed the changes for which I had been calling for several weeks, such as young people, or at least some young people, at least being offered the vaccine. We are told 300,000 doses of two vaccines will now be administered through pharmacies to young people, which is great. That accounts for approximately 30% of all young people. That will be done by the end of this month. We are now being told that all the over-60s will have had their second dose, which reduces risk quite substantially and needs to be built into revised modelling.

We were told for a long time that antigen testing was not a solution. A bit like mandatory hotel quarantine, the Government came to this late in the day. Now it is a solution and a possibility but the Government is not going to deal with it now; it will kick the can down the road, maybe to autumn, in spite all of the commentary and clear advice from the European Commission regarding antigen testing and its widespread use in other European countries. Antigen testing is not perfect and will not reduce all risk, but it reduces some risk.

We discussed air filtration and air ventilation systems. That is regarded by experts in the area and the sector as a measure that does not reduce all risk but it reduces some risk. It is another ingredient that would make reopening possible. I refer to what was done last summer, with social distancing and limited numbers at tables. When we consider all these factors, we can begin to see what a plan to reopen safely for everybody would look like. That is what should have happened.

The Government was clear throughout the process that it would not engage in consideration of domestic vaccine passports but that is now where we have ended up. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste were at pains to point out that such a process would be unfair and discriminatory, yet that is what is now being proposed. It is deeply problematic.

The motion essentially calls for hospitality to be reopened and I support that, but I support it being reopened on a safe, sound and sustainable basis. I do not believe it was beyond us to come up with a plan. The Government will ask, "What about the public health advice?" By the way, the public health advice did not include under-18s being allowed into bars and restaurants. That was not part of the public health advice, yet the Government decided that is what was needed and it nuanced it because that was a way of reopening hospitality. If that was done for the under-18s, then why not for the over-18s? Bizarrely, under-18s cannot have their confirmation or first communion but they can go into a bar or restaurant with family members who are vaccinated. When these types of decisions that do not make sense are being made, people begin to question the whole approach being taken.

As has been said, the Government's proposals will divide families. They will cause division and real problems. If a family goes on a staycation and some of the children are under 18 but others are over 18, those who are over 18 but not vaccinated will have to stay outside when the family goes to a bar or restaurant. If it is bad weather, tough luck. They will have to stay at home or in their hotel or do something else, but those aged under 18 can go with their family members. How is that fair? It is not fair, of course, and that will be a problem. After their vacation or staycation, many of those very same people aged over 18 will be asked to go back to work in bars and restaurants, pulling pints and serving food, but they cannot avail of any hospitality. It does not make sense. Anything that does not make sense is problematic.

If the Government really believed in its plan and that this is the right thing to do, it would not be rushing it through the Oireachtas in the way it is trying to do. We will have 90 minutes of debate today in which to table amendments to a Bill of such fundamental importance. I am simply saying to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who is deputising for the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, on the motion, that it is unacceptable. The Joint Committee on Health was yesterday asked to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. There is very limited time for debate on the Bill in the Dáil. In recent weeks, the health committee sought to have an input into the process and to have discussions about antigen testing, ventilation, limiting numbers, infection control and social distancing measures, as well as the impact of the accelerated vaccine roll-out. We were told the Department of Health is not the lead Department in this regard but, rather, it is the Department of Transport. We went to the Department of Transport and were told it is the Department of the Taoiseach. We went to the Department of the Taoiseach and were told it is not that Department either. Lo and behold, a letter arrived from the Minister for Health to say it actually is his Department and, by the way, the committee should waive pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. We were told not to worry about that and that Deputies will be given 90 minutes to discuss their amendments which the Government is not going to accept anyway. It does not really matter what Members propose; the Government will ram the Bill through anyway. Members of the Opposition are being asked by members of the media if we are trying to hold up the reopening of hospitality. We are being presented with this fait accompliwhereby the only option on the table is that put forward by the Government. It is patently untrue that we are trying to hold up the reopening of hospitality. There are members of the media who need to ask themselves questions in that regard. That is not how it is. It is not the case. It is not as simple or black and white as that. There are other and better ways to do this.

I do not believe it was beyond us to open up hospitality in a safe and sustainable way, as the vast majority of European countries have done, by putting in all the mitigating factors to which I have referred and having regard to what we did last summer and what other countries are doing now, which is to ensure that when we reopen, we reopen for everyone. The mantra at the start of this crisis was that we are all in this together. Let us be honest about this. When it comes to this Government, we were never all in this together. A clear message is now being sent to young people that we most certainly are not all in this together and they can stay outside the door because we have a plan that excludes significant numbers of people and so be it. I do not believe that is right.

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