Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Covid-19 will be with us forever; so said the Tánaiste last week. Does the Government, therefore, want the Covid emergency powers to be with us forever too? Serious civil liberties issues were involved in the introduction of these powers in the first place, and that was why I voiced my opposition in the first Dáil debate on them. Today, there are serious civil liberties issues in rolling the powers over every three months, as the Minister seems intent on doing. To take just one example, we were told the requirement of the Covid vaccination passport would stay in place until October. The Government clearly sees them being in place for the whole of the winter. Is it the intention to keep these arrangements in place on a semi-permanent basis? To be clear, I am a strong supporter of vaccination. I appeal to all who are unvaccinated to get vaccinated. However, there are clearly civil liberties issues in keeping such an arrangement in place indefinitely at a time when alternative strategies, for example, those that might involve antigen testing, are available. This is a debate we will clearly need to return to.

I will be voting against the extension of these powers. That said, if a crucial issue arises and there is a need for legislation on a case-by-case basis, I would have no problem voting in favour, for example, of extending the eviction ban and the rent freeze indefinitely. As for extending the powers as a whole, however, I will be voting against that.

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