Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Boyhan's amendment.

I am not sure whether we can call the Taoiseach and Tánaiste into this House. It has never been done by any Senator here before. I would like to call them in to account for their chaotic mismanagement of this crisis and to give reasons, backed up with solid evidence, why we are ignoring smarter strategies as we face into level 5 restrictions.

This nation is in shock this morning. We are in level 5 again. We are yo-yoing in and out of lockdowns. We, as politicians, have failed with our messaging. Even Opposition parties have failed. Perhaps our constant questioning of every single move that the Government has taken did not work. It has not worked for the likes of Deputy Mary Lou McDonald and all of those who have questioned every single move that the Government has made in trying to protect our people. It should be about how we can protect our people. I believe that level 5 is a step too far.

The Irish strategy is short-sighted. It is led by politicians who are pandering to lobbyist groups so that football and alcohol trump the health and wealth of this nation. We failed in our messaging in respect of level 3 restrictions. Perhaps it needed to be tweaked. We did not get buy-in from the public because we had protestors, anti-maskers on our streets, and because of golfgate. There are many reasons why we did not bring the public with us. We have to look at ourselves when we ask why we are at level 5 this morning. It is down to us. We should not be in this position.