Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I echo the sentiments expressed by Senators Chambers and Boyhan in welcoming yesterday's announcement by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy O'Gorman, on the intake of four unaccompanied minors from Lesbos to Ireland. As we know, Ireland's record in the context of taking migrants has been patchy. We have had promises but the numbers have been lowered than promised in recent years, so we welcome the development. Médecins Sans Frontières is seeking that Ireland would do more and we call on the Government to do that.

I wish to refer to the restrictions to be announced later today for Dublin. In this House, we all understand that compliance is critical to suppressing the virus. If we are to have compliance across the board within communities, however, then people need to understand why restrictions are being imposed. Senator Warfield referred to the proposed ban on indoor dining. There is a behavioural change sub-committee of NPHET but I have not heard anything from it for weeks or even months as to what it is advising NPHET to do. There is much confusion and a lack of clarity as to how the ban on indoor dining, in a controlled environment, will have the effect of suppressing the virus in Dublin. There is a very serious question here about the behavioural signalling relating to such a measure because we know that the incidence of transmission of the virus is happening in people's homes as opposed to occurring in controlled environments. This measure will have a devastating impact on the businesses involved.

There is an irony in the fact that yesterday we saw the first of the cuts to the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. The payment is going in one direction, namely, decreasing, while the level of restrictions is increasing. This is a very serious issue and we want the Minister for Health, the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to come before the House to outline the support measures they are going to provide to people in the pub, hospitality and arts sectors who are facing into a very long winter.