Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are debating again a serious policy, a Bill "to provide for the continuation in operation [...] of the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, the Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020, the Health (Amendment) Act 2020 and the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021, in the public interest and having regard to the continuing manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of the disease known as Covid-19 [...] in order to mitigate, where practicable, the effects of the spread of that disease; and to provide for related matters." That is from the Bill itself.

I listen to science and I took account of swabbing, mask use, testing and tracing, ventilation, social distancing, rapid and not so rapid testing. The truth is we would not be in our current space if not for our society and the development of Covid-19 vaccines. They have put us in a singularly more positive place than we could have hoped to have been 12 months ago. We have one of the highest vaccine take-up rates in Europe now. That said, many are still decrying the actions taken to date, including the mandatory implementation of restrictions, the closing of businesses and schools, restrictions to civil liberties etc.

The Omicron variant is still being assessed for the possibility of a higher rate of transmissibility. The key to understanding restrictions is to comprehend that a higher level of infection nationally will lead to a higher number of people being significantly ill. These additional sick people, combined with our current hospital population, would completely overwhelm our healthcare system, and this is what we are trying to defend against.

I am not a fan of restrictions. I am a member of the Regional Independent Group, which was first to propose an amendment in this House that would add a sunset clause to the legislation the Minister is proposing to extend. In my previous contribution to the Minister some weeks ago, I asked that he would not return to the House without seeking a new mandate for an extension of powers. That said, the new variant is, unfortunately, a game changer. We cannot afford to delay in trying to suppress this virus in our general population and society. Some of the powers being debated, including the right to detain people under certain circumstances, should only be exercised as a last resort and we need a definite date for their termination.

I will speak to what we are doing and what we are not. With air travel, we have not yet implemented a testing system, and it has been announced that it is again delayed for another 48 hours. The system will require people arriving to the State, whether vaccinated or not, to have a negative Covid-19 test result. Those people travelling with an antigen test result would need it done within 48 hours of the arrival into the country and it must be professionally administered. Those with a PCR test result have a longer window of 72 hours.

I will reflect what a Galway man has passed to me. He is travelling to Birmingham tonight with three family members and has booked antigen tests in the UK at a cost of £116. He and his family are returning on Sunday night and rapid testing may not detect a virus he could contract in the UK before returning freely to Ireland. The Minister knows I have lobbied for antigen testing for close to two years. Why are we using them now in a fashion we know is ineffective? Why do we not require subsequent antigen or PCR testing days later for those who are returning on flights from abroad? Communications is a key area and one might ask how senior establishment figures who rubbished antigen testing for more than 12 months can suddenly embrace it and see it used in a way for which it was never designed or intended to be used.

Given that we are being asked to extend these health regulations, at what point will NPHET solely advise the Government and stop advising the people?

We have had various examples of recommendations from public health officials where the Government has challenged, endorsed or ignored the advice. This mixed messaging is causing further anxiety and some distrust in the general population. Leaders lead; followers follow.

The failure of public health officials to acknowledge other voices which have often been proved correct continues to be a significant cause of concern to me and many others. Public health messaging needs to be curtailed to Government communications only so that the Government alone should advocate public health actions and accept that responsibility. Were the Government to take sole initiative and exercise sole responsibility, it would reduce the ambiguity and mixed messaging that is causing distress to many.

I refer to some reports that were done nationally, not by public health professionals but by joint committees of the Oireachtas. The health committee did a key report on antigen testing, which it strongly recommended but that was resisted until recently. Another report was published by that committee on the potential of vitamin D supplementation. It too has been, and continues to be, ignored, including by our most senior and prominent public health visionaries. There are thousands of reports in the EU advocating vitamin D supplementation as mitigation against Covid-19 infection and serious disease progression. In Ireland, a year-long study charting the possible relationships between low vitamin D concentration and adverse outcomes has been published in Irish medical journals recently. It is not the double blind, randomised control trial protocol signally demanded by our public health officials and it can never be as we cannot deprive a control group of vitamin D. There is significant and ample evidence to base a public campaign on vitamin D supplementation across society, yet we continue to ignore a simple and probably very beneficial Covid mitigation exercise.

With regard to restrictions and their further extensions, we must support the hospitality sector. The recent announcement to reduce employer supports and temporarily the support to redundant employees must be rethought in light of new public health restrictions and messaging. While the public sector and multinationals have continued to function largely without financial impact, that is not true of SMEs. They employ close to 1 million people in this country. If we are all in this together, no one must be left behind.

We are facing into a very difficult Christmas and new year. We are not alone in facing this challenge as there is a resurgence of Covid across Europe and the world, but we must learn from our past mistakes. We cannot continue to delay, deny or to defend our recent failures brought about by our failure to act in a timely and supportive way. We must rely on the full analysis of the scientific community, national and international, and we have to act in defence of the science. We must act quickly and use all available technology to mitigate the pandemic. Most of all, people want clarity. If there are significant further restrictions in the offing, the Government needs to be straight with the people and explain what it is doing and why, and why there are no other choices or better possibilities. It is time for the Government to become proactive in the fight against Covid and to use all the State's intellect and intellectual actors to design the best way out of this pandemic. We cannot just wait for multiple European reports to tell us what our hospital doctors and medics have said for months without being listened to. We must retrace our steps around community and hospital care. We must ensure that every resource available is brought to bear to suppress this latest wave. We need the public to be fully on board and for that we need action based on facts, not listening to the voices advocating science fiction.

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