Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing time with Deputy Mick Barry. I will make several different points concerning Covid, but particularly on the repressive powers the Minister proposes to extend now. We oppose those repressive powers and their extension. It is striking to compare the approach taken by the Government in extending significant restrictions on civil liberties to its approach concerning protections and supports for ordinary people. The Government has already cut the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, by €50. There is another cut coming down the line to the PUP on 16 November. The bans on evictions and rent increases have already been removed and we still do not have a mandatory employer sick pay scheme nearly two years into this pandemic. This gives an indication of the Government's priorities and its approach in keeping these repressive powers.

There is a contrast between the reopening of indoor nightclubs and the maintaining and extension of powers to ban and criminalise outdoor protests, when we know the risk of transmission in an outside environment is minimal compared with the dangers of transmission in indoor environments. The priority of the Government and its approach towards civil liberties is clear. This extension of restrictions on civil liberties in the context of the Government discussing the need to live with Covid during a time of high daily case numbers which are increasing poses the question whether the Government will ever repeal these repressive powers and if they are likely to become permanent. All the repressive powers in this State, such as the Special Criminal Court for example, were introduced in response to particular emergencies. The same occurred internationally with legislation introduced following 9/11 in the US, such as the Patriot Act, and 7/7 in Britain. Does the Government plan to introduce further restrictive regulations in the near future due to its failure to deal with the current wave of Covid?

There is a broader point to be made here concerning the approach of the Government of relying, on the one hand, on repressive powers and, on the other, as was interestingly referred to by a Deputy on the other side of the House, to lean and sway in the direction of the latest demands from business lobbying organisations and to concede, regardless of public health demands, at any given point. We must understand it is clear, as acknowledged by experts in advance, that while vaccines are crucial in the fight against Covid, and everyone should be encouraged to be vaccinated, they are not a silver bullet. To protect Christmas, to ensure we will not be in the situation of having a so-called meaningful Christmas again, and to prevent future lockdowns, we need a vaccine-plus strategy. We need vaccination, ventilation and vastly increased numbers of tests compared with the number currently being conducted.

For more than a year, People Before Profit has been pushing for a proper focus on and investment in ventilation in our schools, offices and hospitality settings. Transmission is taking place in those indoor settings, but the Government repeatedly refuses to take action on this. Instead, it has actually cut back on these services. It is still the situation today that there is no legislation on ventilation. It is a crazy situation, when this is a virus that is primarily carried in the air, that we do not have legislation on the right of workers to have clean air and not to work in environments that contain more than 900 parts per million of CO2 or, in circumstances where that is not possible, to have high efficiency particulate air, HEPA, filters to ensure Covid does not circulate.

This brings me to the crucial question of schools. We agree that schools must remain open, but the Government should not sell the lie that schools are safe and that they are not a place of transmission. That is patently not true. It should be stated clearly that it is vital for our society that schools remain open, but the supports must be put in place. We need HEPA filters in every classroom in the State, as is the case in parts of Australia. In Ireland, we do not have a single air purifier. We need to return to contact tracing and testing instead of continuing to turn a blind eye to what is happening. It is not possible to fight Covid on the cheap.

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