Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is no exception in the House either, in terms of having the capacity to spin. I did not interrupt her. The point I was making was that children and young people have gone through an awful lot in this pandemic. Their quality of life has been in many ways reduced by the pandemic. It is the Covid-19 pandemic that is driving all of this. Those in the engine room have to keep going to protect people. We do not have the luxury of doing all the comprehensive evaluations people would like us to do. We are mindful of the issues for people in their daily lives. They are fed up with this pandemic. What is the most fundamental human right of all? It is to protect life and limb. That is a fundamental obligation of government. I would go before any human rights commission and say my fundamental responsibility and that of the Government is to protect people's lives and to take expert advice and assess it. This Oireachtas assesses that advice as well as to whether it will protect people's lives and limbs and whether to go with it.

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