Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be as focused as I can. I will not be supporting this legislation. I did not support it initially. The only emergency legislation I supported was back in March of last year. I make my comments in the full knowledge that 5,249 people have died and that Covid-19 cases have risen again, with 1,124 new cases reported and 349 people in hospital. I make my comments fully aware of that and of the fact that the virus is still a major problem.

This legislation was passed in July. It was introduced on 13 July and passed by the Dáil on 14 July by 74 votes to 68. There was no pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government built in discrimination on the basis of health for the first time ever in Irish law. The Government built discrimination into the law on the basis of a person's health status. Discrimination was built in on every level. I have just checked the figures for those who were vaccinated earlier this year. By 1 April, an interesting date, a total of 22,988 people had been vaccinated. They are all now well over the six-month effectiveness threshold. We have heard Deputies refer to The Lancet and the reduction in effectiveness of the vaccine five months after the last dose. We are now discriminating against those who had the double dose as well as those who did not. Then we have the people, including a member of my own family, who contracted Covid-19 who have a certificate for six months. Interestingly, in the Minister's speech today he referred to nine months for such people. There is no clarity on anything. An all-party committee made recommendations that were absolutely ignored. I, among other Deputies, spoke out from the beginning on nursing homes and on the utter failure of the Government and NPHET to consider the vulnerability of nursing homes, meat plants and direct provision centres.

This legislation is not necessary and it should not be made part of our law. The Minister has come before us with a speech.

He has not told us what report has been produced or whether there has been a review. The legislation from July provided that compliance officers could be appointed or designated. How many were designated? How many compliance notices were issued? How many cessation orders and appeals were issued? There has been no assessment, as required under EU regulation, of the impact on data retention, among other things, including discrimination.

The Minister is before us asking that we renew the legislation, almost on a whim. He tells us that the regulations will go but we are to leave the legislation in place. This is the most serious element of the draconian series of Acts we brought in, ostensibly because there was a crisis. There is at least an onus on the Government and its backbench Deputies, who did not turn up today and avail of their time, to tell the House it has reviewed the legislation, outline what the review found, state the reasons it needs to be renewed and seek our assistance to do so. That is what a rational, reasonable Government would do. I thank the people who stood in solidarity, all of us together, until the Government split that solidarity by drawing a distinction and enshrining discrimination in the law.

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