Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have been sitting here for the past 30 minutes listening to the debate and wondering how that can be the case.

When this is boiled down, why exactly are these emergency powers being introduced? They are not politically popular; nobody likes them or wants to support them. Why, then, are they being extended? Their extension is happening because the case numbers are five times higher than they were this day last year, when we had 748 cases. We are heading into an uncertain winter, with 90% of people aged over 12 vaccinated and 3,700 cases. The one thing we have learned about this pandemic is that when case numbers rise, hospitalisations and ICU admissions follow. The emergency powers, at their essence, are certainly not designed to make the Government popular or help businesses and workers, to whom they are damaging; they are designed to ease pressure on our health services. Ultimately, if they have to be used, they are designed to save lives. They are also designed to help student nurses and midwives by easing the pressure on the wards on which they work.

Listening to what has been going on for the past couple of hours in the previous debate and this one, it is so inconsistent because what is written in this motion-----

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