Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking to the amendment but it is becoming more and more obvious as the evening goes on that this legislation is completely unworkable and unjust. I do not care how many Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Green Party Deputies stand up and try to rationalise it. One speaker from the Government said that it was not too much for them to show their pass at the door and go in and get their seats. It made me think of Rosa Parks because of the segregation that is being done here. To say that people are being treated differently but that they are not being discriminated against is just plain wrong.

This Government will be known as the Government of chaos and confusion because what it says depends on which Minister or Deputy stands up on any given day. As I said earlier, Government Deputies are in opposition in their constituencies and in government when they come to Dublin. It is time they made up their minds. Some of them here this evening will be voting for what they speak against in their constituencies. Those are the ones who have not run for the hills so they can go back and say "well, I did not press the button so it is not my fault." It is absolute chaos.

This evening, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris, said that 10,000 English language students are to now have in-person classes. These 10,000 people are mostly young people and young tutors. They are mostly unvaccinated. They are obviously concerned about their safety and there is no guidance or clarity given whatsoever. This is a very fragile moment of the reopening of our society. In the same week - even on the same day - that the Government is passing legislation to preclude unvaccinated people from indoor dining it is telling staff and students that they have to return to in-person classes. Did the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science ask the Minister for Health's advice on this matter? Did he discuss it with him? The situation is even worse for stamp 2 students, who effectively will be forced to return to in-person classes due to their visa requirements. If they refuse to attend they could lose their visas and be deported. It is more chaos and more confusion. Most of these students work in nursing homes and as carers but regardless of their jobs or their personal health conditions they are being given no choice but to return to in-person classes. Yet they are told they cannot sit in a restaurant, even with ventilation and all the safety measures in place. I just want to know what is going on and young people want to know what is going on. How can we have 10,000 students in this situation and not let others in the door?

I do not care how comfortable the vaccinated Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party members are when they take their seats inside in the restaurants. We cannot segregate society like this. People say we did it with the over-70s but there was proper and evidence-based advice for over-70s to have extra protection at the beginning of the Covid pandemic for their safety. It is not the same as what is being done now. This is unworkable. Restaurant and pub owners are not going to check every individual coming through the door. It is just not going to work.

We are discussing the first amendment. The Minister and the Government seem hell-bent on pushing through this legislation. No matter how much we in Sinn Féin and the Opposition try to make them see sense around this legislation it seems they are going to plough ahead with it. An earlier speaker asked the Minister to tell us if he is going to accept any of these amendments to try to undo some of the damage the Government is about to do tonight. Is he?

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