Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It looks right across. It is not fair to charge our Chief Medical Officer with playing favourites when it comes to giving advice on category 2 countries.

In respect of the position of Sinn Féin, which was highly critical of the Government's position in the Dáil debate, I will point out the following. The regime we are bringing in is very similar to the UK regime. As Senator Bacik said, it is pretty much the same countries that feature on both lists. They are very similar. I cannot find any Sinn Féin opposition to the UK proposal. There may have been but certainly a media trawl found no vocal opposition from Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland to the UK's proposal, which is exactly what we are bringing in here. If this Bill passes the House and the President signs it later this week, there will be hotel quarantine in place in England, Scotland, Wales - by proxy through England - and Ireland. The only jurisdiction on the two islands where there will not be hotel quarantine is Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin should reflect on that and see if it is something on which it wants to engage with its coalition partners in Northern Ireland because it is a gap in the biodefences of the two islands.

A charge that has been repeatedly made is that this Bill is better late than never. I have a briefing table issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which I will quickly summarise for the House. The system here will be the most comprehensive system of quarantine anywhere in the European Union. The charge made against the Government is that it is too late. We are moving first in the European Union. We will be the only country in the European Union with this in place. It is simply not credible to suggest this is better late than never. According to the table, there is no mandatory quarantine in a hotel or government facility, in other words, a designated facility, in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In addition, in Cyprus and Hungary, it applies only to persons travelling from the UK; in Greece, it only applies if a person arriving has a positive test; in Iceland, it applies only if there is no alternative, in other words, where persons cannot go to their home to quarantine; in Norway, it applies to people travelling from high-risk areas but people can also do home quarantine, which we also have; and in the UK, the system almost the same as our measures. That is the position in Europe so to suggest this is some sort of laggard move on the part of Ireland simply does not stack up.

The vaccine programme is slightly off topic but it was raised by a number of Senators. One contributor described it as a debacle, while another said it was progressing slowly. We would all love it to move at the speed it is moving in the UK. We have to accept that the UK is not in the EU, whereas we are part of the EU. We managed to advance purchase 18.5 million doses, which we would not have been able to do had we been outside the EU. Are the UK and Israel ahead of most other countries? Yes, they are and we accept that is the case. In the EU context, which is what we can control, we have consistently been one of the fastest roll-out countries. Not only that, but we are prioritising the highest risk people, which takes more time and effort and is more complex.

I want to say a few words in defence of the people who are rolling out the vaccination programme. The HSE is working seven days a week on this. We have covered long-term residential care facilities and we have made significant inroads into cohort 2, healthcare workers.Cohort 3 has started and there has now been a prioritisation for patients with conditions that put them at high risk. The country needs some hope. Everybody needs some hope. The vaccination programme is that hope. For it to be described in the Oireachtas as a debacle is nonsense and it does a disservice to the people rolling it out.

I was in Dublin City University, DCU, where there were 102 GP clinics and almost 1,000 people aged 85 and over. The Order of Malta was there and Dublin Airport sent wheelchairs. Medical students, general practitioners, practice nurses, DCU staff and the HSE were there also. The Air Corps has been flying vaccines to the islands in the west. I am proud to be part of this national effort and to be an Irish citizen or a resident here watching the apparatus of the State and our healthcare workers step up.

I encourage any of the Senators who can to go to a GP clinic to meet the GPs and people being vaccinated. The hope, emotion and energy is incredible. I encourage people to take a look. Of course, it is not all working perfectly and there will be many days and months when it does not work perfectly. We have never done anything like this before. However, the work going on across the country with our vaccination teams needs to be acknowledged.

I apologise for not getting all the miscellaneous questions but I will try to go through some questions. One Senator asked if this applied to EU countries as well as non-EU countries. Yes, it does. Austria is one of the designated countries. I was asked if we were looking at ports as well as airports. Yes, absolutely. It has to be done.

A question was asked about transiting through third countries. The way the legislation is set up is that one has been in one of these countries if one spends time in one, if one of these countries is one's country of origin or if one is transiting through one of them. The UAE is in because of the public health analysis and, in part, because there is much transit through the UAE. It catches a broad range of journeys. One cannot fly from Johannesburg to Schiphol Airport and come to Dublin claiming to have never been through Johannesburg. The legislation refers to being in one of these countries in the last 14 days, so it counts. There are very few exceptions. I asked the Department to draw up some examples of different types of trips and transiting different countries along the way. I am happy to send that to colleagues if it will be useful. It catches many people.

I was asked if all variants covered. That may refer to amendment No. 11. The answer is yes. All current and future variants are covered.

I respect the positions being put here, which are contrary to the Government position. They are all are being made will the best of intentions. Not all were made with the best of intentions by everybody in the Dáil last week but we are all trying to do the same thing. There is no monopoly on wisdom or on how to do this fully and comprehensively.

Senator Bacik asked if I would accept the amendment. I will not accept it for the reasons I have laid out but I ask, in turn, that the House does not vote on the amendment. The debate has been had and I respect the views. For what it is worth, my view is that the people need to see unity from their politicians. Some of what happened in the Dáil was politics. I spent ten years in those seats, so I am not averse to it. However, taking photographs of the voting monitors after the vote and sending them around social media and saying the Government has left the people at risk, I do not know about that. The more unity we have after the debates, the better.Obviously, it is in no way my right, nor would I suggest it is in any way. People will call the votes they want and they are perfectly entitled to do that. That is my counter ask.