Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Irish Government is a radical outlier. It is adopting an extreme policy different from all other European countries. Workplace closures have been far longer than in any other European country. The health service in this country has seen much longer closures than in any other European country, resulting in many people being denied cancer care, mental health care and heart disease care. Our schools were closed for longer than in any other country, which has meant that children have not had access to education and have been socially deprived.

This country has a housing crisis and yet it is the only country in Europe that closed the building of homes for the first four months of this year, which is an incredible situation. Religious services in the South of Ireland have been closed for longer than in any other European country. Baptisms, first holy communions and confirmations have been happening safely in the North of Ireland since Easter but are banned in this State. Ireland is the only country in Europe where indoor hospitality is banned. It is an amazing situation. Indoor hospitality is functioning in every country in continental Europe but not in this country.

Today, the Government will seek to railroad a vaccination pass through the Dáil. No other country in Europe has looked for a vaccination pass to be included. Even when the travel pass was being discussed at EU level, they were very careful not to make it just a vaccine pass and to give people the option of some sort of test to remove the discrimination element that would be at the heart of a vaccine pass. Vaccine passes are discrimination, pure and simple. They highlight that young people do not have the same rights as older people who have been vaccinated. For people who have allergies it is tough; they do not have the same rights as other people. It is also discriminating against the many people who have decided not to take the vaccine yet and to wait for long-term research on the vaccine before they take it.

On antigen testing, the Government has ignored best practice internationally. Ireland is one of only six countries in Europe that is not using antigen testing to control the illness. More than a year ago, Aontú called on the Government to introduce antigen testing. More than seven months ago, the EU gave the go-ahead for antigen testing and now the Government has established a working group to discuss the potential of using antigen testing in society. Before that working group was set up, the Government pulled the rug from underneath it by saying that antigen testing would not be used in hospitality. It is mind-bending to see the way the Government is repeatedly tying itself up in knots and ignoring best international practice. It is incredible to see it trying repeatedly to reinvent the wheel at a cost to so many people.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been pushed into poverty. Many of the owners of the 20,000 pubs and restaurants in the country have been pushed into poverty. Many of them are in debt. There are many zombie businesses which are only alive because of Government supports. Once those supports are taken away, many of those businesses will collapse. Some 200,000 people work the sector. Those workers are getting stuffed economically due to these Government restrictions. Young people can work in a restaurant unvaccinated but cannot drink in it. However, they can go across the road to the hotel and drink and eat to their hearts' content all night long. They cannot attend a confirmation celebration in a back garden along with a dozen people.

On 19 July 2021, the Minister and I will be able to fly to Copenhagen where we will be able to get a meal in a restaurant – indoors and unvaccinated - but we cannot walk down the street in our own town to do the same. Why is this happening? It is because we have an insular, inward-looking attitude towards this illness. Second, and I agree with Deputy Paul Murphy on this, it is because Sinn Féin has stuck its fingers in the air to find out which way the wind is blowing. It provided no opposition to this Government. It is time that we follow science. The science does not change when it crosses the Irish Sea. The science is the same in every single country in Europe. Why is Ireland an outlier?

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