Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Byrne - two and a half minutes each. I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the legislation. I know it is a figure of speech when we welcome legislation but I wish I did not have to welcome it. I take umbrage with the argument that this legislation is too late. I firmly believe it is better late than never. The figures prove that 1% of the positive cases can be traced back to travel. This Bill, and the Minister can correct me in his summation if I am wrong, is variant related. We will never stop cases by either a travel ban or quarantine. This Bill probably would not be before the House today if it were not for the new variants and it is important that that message is put across. We seem to have got many mixed messages in the contributions earlier. The Minister is right to bring in the Bill.

The time is limited but I will put a couple of questions to the Minister. I welcome the sunset clause. The Minister might give us some indication as to the criteria he will use to extend the provisions in the Bill or when he believes we may have reached a point at which the measures could be finished or stopped. In that respect, where and when will vaccinations start to affect the way we allow people to travel? I refer to somebody who has been vaccinated for a prolonged period before they travel. When does the Minister see that playing into when and how we can allow freedom of travel?

In the debate to date, and I accept it is a natural thing because it is the same when one talks to people outside this House, we seem to concentrate, even in the language we use, on airports. I stress that the Minister must make sure the measure is also policed in our ports. I am aware it is twice as difficult to police in ports. It is much easier to do in airports by virtue of the way people come in through airport channels. Ports, with vehicles and so on, are more difficult to police. Now that we have opened up our connectivity to mainland Europe because of Brexit, it may be even more difficult to police. It is vitally important, however, that we do not get carried away in the language that seems to concentrate on airports. We have to police this at ports also.

I had more points to offer but I have agreed to share my time.