Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. This is the first opportunity I have had to make a contribution on the issue of Covid following the introduction of the social bubbles. My party leader and I lobbied hard when I came up with the suggestion and talked to him about it. I thank the Government for taking it on board. It has made a real difference to thousands of people around the country in this lockdown that they are able to form social bubbles. I meet people all the time now who tell me about their bubbling with some person or other. That was a small measure that did not cost anything. They listened to a member of the Opposition and it has made a real difference to thousands of people in the social isolation that is there. I merely wanted to put that on record to thank the Government.

We are moving to a situation tomorrow where, hopefully, announcements will be made and there will be an opening up of the Irish economy. However, this pandemic is still with us. We know that at times, the growth of the virus can be very quick where people gather. I saw with dismay on social media a bus company advertising a bus coming down to Dublin because, as the North was closing down, the South was opening up. Every Member of this House, at one stage or another, has spoken about the need to have an all-island approach because borders are political constructs and they are certainly not recognised by a virus. There is a real danger if we see the likes of that happening over the next months and we have a bustling Christmas, that we will be potentially heading back into this in January. I say that as somebody who has been somewhat sceptical about decisions that have been taken but who realises and understands that it is for the greater good. Such incidents are worrying. There is important public communication to happen around that if anybody is thinking of travelling down.

I would also like to address the issue of tomorrow. In the decisions that we make and the announcements that are made, there should be an element of consistency. The decisions should be made on the basis of evidence but then stuck to. We have seen, for example, a Minister announcing, after a Twitter storm of a video of a street in Dublin, that the Government would ban takeaway pints on which a memorandum would be brought to Cabinet. Why are we in a situation where memorandums are going to Cabinet on the basis of social media storms? We do not know what the basis of that was. It was a short video. I was not there. What I saw of it was people outside. I am not sure it was a contributor but it is important that we do not see such things. The current Minister for Health has certainly proven to be a more shaky hand than his predecessor.He needs to be consistent and stick to the decisions that are made to give certainty for December.

I want to address the issue of some sectors that have been closed but could potentially open safely. Senator McDowell made an important point when he stated that our instinct should not be to restrict activity but to control the virus. I am talking about the arts sector, where theatres, galleries and centres operate in relatively precarious financial positions at the best of times. As anybody who has ever been to a gallery will know, however, they are not jam packed with people walking through. They are safe and controlled environments. I understand that the reason they have been told to close is to limit movement but we need to reconsider that.

I was recently contacted by a regional arts venue about the fact that when it reopens, it will need content and artists who are creating. They will have to have something ready to go for next year or whenever a vaccine comes and the venue reopens. It has hired some artists under the wage subsidy scheme but cannot get confirmation from Revenue that that is okay. The venue is hiring artists on the basis of working a day or two a week as employees of the centre, in the same way as cleaners or administrators who are employees of the centre, but Revenue will not give the centre confirmation that it will not have to pay back that money. The centre told me that the risk is that it will end up having to pay back that money after having paid it out. I have been chasing up the issue, as has a Minister's office. The employee wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, is potentially a solution to allow many performance and artistic venues to keep going over the course of the pandemic. An artist being an employee is not a ridiculous concept but, for some reason, Revenue will not confirm that for the centre.

I raise the issue of faith and mass over the course of December and places of worship being allowed to open. I did not grow up in a religious background. The only times I ever went to mass was when we went to funerals, and we did not even go at Christmas time. I always thought that sandwiches were given out at the end of the service. Nevertheless, it is very important for many people of faith to have access to faith institutions. Even in January, we might find a way of allowing people, particularly older people who get a great deal of comfort from their faith, to attend gatherings in a safe manner.