Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I join with the sympathies and sentiments that have been expressed on the deaths of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Brendan Kennelly, Paddy Moloney and Tony MacMahon.

The announcement today on the lifting of the restrictions was yet another startling display of confusion, coherence and chaos from the Government. With just three days to go before many businesses that have been closed for nearly two years are due to open, the rules are being rewritten. We all accept that the rates of Covid transmission can surge very quickly and can be unpredictable. What is predictable, however, is that we know without a shadow of doubt how the disease is spread. It is airborne. Businesses have been given absolutely no guidance on the manner in which they can improve ventilation and make their premises safer. Air filtration units, for example, could be rolled out to schools for as little as €12 million, but they have not been issued. Nightclub and music venue owners are going to get advice at the last possible moment on how they can open their businesses.

All indoor businesses where people congregate should have been given guidance on ventilation months ago.

The Taoiseach said yesterday that he is a great fan of antigen testing and that came as a surprise to many of us because there is no evidence that anyone in government is a fan of such testing. We are told that the continued reopening is to a large extent contingent on antigen testing being rolled out to scale. Why was that not done before? How will this massive surge in the use of antigen testing work, given that almost zero prior planning has been done for that?

We are told that people can dance in nightclubs, for example, but that they cannot go to the bar for a drink. It is confusing; people could probably dance to the bar. In his address earlier the Taoiseach attempted to defray the blame by talking about personal responsibility. Irish people have been brilliant in what they have done and we would all agree on that. They got vaccinated in their droves and stayed at home when they were told to do so. There are other issues of planning at play and we have always been in an emergency. There is also the issue of the creaking hospital capacity. We are 20 months into the disaster and there is a modest target of an increase of 66 ICU beds this year. That target has not been met and there has been no mention of additional capacity in this year's budget.

Would the Taoiseach accept that there has been a failure to plan and that we are back at an emergency stage in the opening of businesses and the criteria being applied? There has been a failure to accept that this is an airborne virus. The ads that are being shown at the moment instruct people to wash their hands. The evidence is not that the virus is transmitted by touch but that it is an airborne virus. Why has the necessary attention not been placed on that?

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