Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is fascinating to sit here and listen to every contribution. I am a former Deputy and new to the Seanad. I have to give credit to each of my colleagues. Senator Seery Kearney expressed some anxiety about how we move forward. Senator McDowell seems to be more open to getting things up and running. It is wonderful to hear everybody having a point of view and expressing it honestly. Some really good points have been made.

I want to join other Senators in again praising all the front-line workers, our local authorities and local enterprise offices, LEOs. They have really stepped up to the mark. I also compliment the Department of Social Protection. I deal with the Department on behalf of constituents and its staff are excellent. I want to give a word of praise to the Minister of State, Deputy English. He has been sent out to bat for the Government on many occasions. It has not been easy. A member of my party said to me last week that at least the Minister of State gives us a little bit of hope for the future.

It has been difficult all around. It is difficult for the Taoiseach and the new Minister for Health.I have said before that dealing with the first four months of the pandemic was completely different compared with dealing with the second four months, and I will tell the House why. Every one of us was of the opinion that this would not last. I have praised the previous Taoiseach, now the Tánaiste, and the previous Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, but I also see the work being done by the present Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and by our present Minister for Health. It is not an easy task, not only for the regime in this country but for any government across the world at the moment. The virus has caused problems everywhere.

Senator Higgins mentioned An Post and I think other Members did as well. It was a very important point. I add to that by mentioning the work done by postmen and women, particularly in rural areas where they actually still call to the door, ask people are they okay, bring them out a newspaper or take a message for them somewhere else. All of this is okay by the top brass in An Post. It is fantastic to see that happen and it happens in urban areas as well. It is fantastic to see something that was so important in the past to people now being there again. The Leas-Chathaoirleach will know this as well from the rural parts of County Cavan.

When I say this I am probably not going to please all of my constituents but I am very much in favour of reopening our hotels, restaurants and pubs. Having made that statement I will get 50% of the people calling me saying I was right and 50% telling me I should not have said that and we cannot open them. I will explain where I am coming from on this. The attitudes of many people have changed and they have changed again. Going back to the point I made about people thinking this was going to be a three- or four-month event, now I think most reasonable people understand that even with a vaccine, we are going to have challenges and problems well into 2021. We are probably going to have to wear masks and we going to have to do a lot of things differently than we did in the past. I have a great belief that there is a huge area of personal responsibility with the Irish public, and let us get that message out today. Therefore, if the pubs are allowed to open let us be clear that for publicans who break the rules there will be consequences when they want to renew their licences. This must be a carrot and stick approach. I am against opening the pubs for a few weeks and then closing them. We either open them or close them and that is what publicans are telling me. We need to be very careful about that. The level of outbreak from the hotel and restaurant sector when it was open was minimal. It was so low. I think it was 0.12% or something like that. Again, I know from visiting hotels and restaurants that they were fantastic all over the place. They really did what they were asked to do by Government and the experts, and they will do so again. It is important we put our faith in the people. They are exhausted from Covid, they are anxious about it. As many speakers have said, people have anxieties about banks and Revenue. Despite all the assurances and reassurances people still have a lot of worries and quite a number of them will say, "I had X amount of people employed here and I really worry about them". We must have faith in them.

The Minister of State might clarify a few things concerning the reopening. From my own perspective and from a rural one, will we allow some people back into the marts as that is an issue? Will the shooting season be allowed to happen? I think churches are going to open. A number of Members have mentioned that we speak for all churches. I admit I am a practising Catholic but we must apply this to all churches and all faiths. They should all be allowed to have their desire to go to church met. A lot of people who might not attend church during the year, of whatever religion, nearly all go along at Christmas time. That might create problems in the church but I am sure more ceremonies can be put on. Will non-contact sports like golf and tennis be allowed?

My time is up. This has been a good debate, fantastic points have been made. I wish the Government well with its decisions tomorrow. I am sure the Minister of State will relay our concerns and our views to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and I thank him for his time today.