Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not think anybody for one second is saying that Covid is gone or that Covid is defeated. It is nothing I have had said to me and it is certainly not something that I think. However, I am struck today by one question, a very short and pointed question, and that is: why? Why is it that if, as the Minister himself said, these restrictions will be lifted on 22 October, the Minister is looking for this legislation to be extended? I see no proper justification in his opening statement for this legislation to be extended.

The Minister should know that these discretionary powers would be much better utilised in sorting out the unjust and unequal discrepancies that exist in our health service. This is particularly the case in maternity services where, despite assurances by the Minister, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach that there was no real reason for these restrictions to be in place, they remain in place today. While others here may talk of protesting about libraries, the women who will be protesting outside the gates of Leinster House again tomorrow are protesting for themselves, for their partners, for their husbands and for their unborn children, which is slightly more important than the lack of a library.

My constituency office has been inundated since the very beginning of restrictions with calls from women and partners about maternity restrictions. At the beginning, they understood. They did not like it but they understood as they could see the reasoning behind it. Those days are gone. To see those restrictions remain in place today is shocking. It truly is shocking, particularly when other services across the country have started to reopen. People can go to an open-air concert but they cannot go with their partner to a scan. There is no logic in that, no sense in that, no justification in that.

When women tell me they are dreading going into hospital by themselves to have their baby, I understand what they are saying. I have been lucky. I have brought four children into this world, not an easy feat at the best of times. I will sing the praises of the maternity services until I shed this mortal coil but there was one thing they could not provide and that was the emotional support that I needed at those times.

There is no uniformity across the hospital services despite the reassurance that has been given. For all that this emergency legislation was introduced, where was it used to ensure that these women were getting a fair and just service? I do not see it being used anywhere and it certainly has not been used in any hospital I am aware of. I know the Minister is aware of that because I remember mentioning to him the point about doulas and at that time, he agreed it was not correct practice.

As the Government speaks of reframing the challenge, let us reframe that challenge. What is Covid going to look like for the next six or nine months? We have moved out of the emergency phase, thankfully, we have seen the end of lockdowns and we hope that cocooning is something that never comes back. Again, the question presents as to why we are even discussing the extension of this Bill. The powers of the Oireachtas need to be returned to the Oireachtas. There is no door closed to the Minister to come back into this House to reintroduce this Bill, should the situation arise over the coming months.

Where is the plan from the Minister to deal with the waiting lists in our hospitals or to deal with the mental health strategy? I see no emergency legislation to deal with them. I see no emergency legislation to deal with the chronic backlog of gynaecological appointments. At this point, when we speak of vaccinations, let us speak of the other vaccinations. Let us speak of the school-age vaccinations schedule that is due to take place in clinical settings. When we translate that lovely-worded sentence into the reality in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath, it means that parents are being asked to travel a 90-minute round-trip to get their child vaccinated with little to no public transport service. How is that going to affect them? What is going to be the fall-off from that when parents literally cannot get their children to the vaccination they want to get for them? That programme sounds lovely on paper but in reality, the barriers to that service are profound. The Minister spoke of balance. Where is the balance in that?

I will leave the Minister with this. He should please stop treating people like fools because they are not. They have endured and they have adhered to rules, even the ones that at the time made no sense, but they did it and they did it for the greater good. They said their last goodbyes to loved ones and their first hellos to loved ones through windowpanes because they were told it was for the greater good. Those days are gone. We have got to put our faith in people who have signed up to a vaccination programme, who have done all that is asked of them, because they are capable of making an educated decision.

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