James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions on what is an important motion. I take on board the comments about what was intended to be a temporary legislation introduced in an emergency to allow people to socialise in the context of a very serious situation concerning Covid-19. Thankfully, Covid-19 has receded to a large degree. It is still there and still impacts our hospitals quite significantly and we have to be very much aware of that. This is one of the positive things that came out of that Covid-19 situation, where people were able to see the opportunity to engage, as Deputy Howlin said, in a way that happens in almost every other village and town in Europe. Quite frankly, it probably should have happened a long time ago.

Temporary often means different things to different people and to somebody coming from the legal world, temporary can often mean quite a long time.

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