Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is deas an rud é go bhfuil mé ábalta cúpla focal a rá ar an plé seo. As we get into the real debate, we can see how concerned everybody is and how all Senators are linked in to the reality that we are in the middle of a pandemic. That was not the case during the debate on the Order of Business. The pandemic is not just an issue for Ireland, it is an issue for the world. I am glad that Senator Craughwell is now supporting the Bill.

I welcome the Minister to the House and commend her on her work on the Bill, but to a certain extent she contradicted herself. I make that point in a friendly manner because we have a very good working relationship. She spoke about the rogue pubs. The very reason we are here today is that publicans in my county, Roscommon, which the Minister knows well, and other counties have told me that they have kept to the law, been good and are very concerned about public health. They told me, as a legislator, to come into the House and to work with my party, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Green Party in order to bring in legislation to deal with the rogue pubs. I count on one hand the number of rogue pubs in County Roscommon. There are only four or five of them, a very small number, but those people have enraged other publicans.

We should get rid of the phrase "wet pubs". I do not know who invented it. I worked in my cousin's pub for many years and I worked in other pubs while I was in college. The only time I ever saw a wet pub was when a radiator burst. It is a crazy use of language that somebody has brought in. That is an aside.

We must realise that the pandemic was easier to handle during its first three or four months because every Member of this House and many medical professionals believed that it would have disappeared by August or September. What has happened in the meantime? We have discovered that some of the medical professionals disagree with each other. Some of the most eminent medical people in the world cannot get to the bottom of the pandemic.

This is unquestionably the biggest challenge with which all governments and parliamentarians in proper democracies face. Members who state that we must live with the pandemic are correct. I, like the Minister, Senator Seery Kearney and most Members of the House - there are some eminent lawyers among them who will dissect the Bill inside out and are far better able to address the issue than I am - know that the reality is that things are changing from week to week. That is a challenge for everybody. The leaders, deputy leaders and health ministers of every country in the world have a significant burden on their shoulders when they go to bed at night and when they wake up in the morning. The reality of Covid is that people are dying and getting sick. Unfortunately, there were three deaths yesterday in Ireland. Do the people who state that Covid is not a threat to our health, communities and families, who tell us not to wear a mask and who demonstrate in the most appalling way realise what has happened to families in this country and across the world?

Some people may refer to the Bill as draconian legislation but I do not believe it is. We could use the word "draconian" to describe the virus. Of course, the longer it goes on, the more likely people are to lose patience.They say that they cannot continue and that we need to get our pubs reopened, go back to our football matches and so on but personal responsibility on the part of everyone, both inside and outside this House, from families and communities must be the number one priority. We all have a responsibility here. When very eminent medics, many of them brilliant people, are disagreeing with each other on radio and television, what are ordinary people to think? What are they to think when they hear such disagreements? There is confusion everywhere and that gives rise to massive challenges.

As Senator Seery Kearney said, the enemy is the virus. There is a sunset clause in this Bill. I know the Minister and most members of the Government personally and I know that they do not want to introduce draconian legislation, but we must act now.