Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis as ucht na méide oibre atá déanta go dtí seo ar an ábhar seo, ábhar atá an-tábhachtach ar fad dúinn.

I congratulate the Minister. From the word go, he has been in a very difficult position and we now see the fruits of the labour in which he has been involved over recent years. Many Senators mentioned the vaccination programme and there is no doubt it is tremendously important, as I have seen with my parents. My mother got her second dose on Saturday and the vaccine has transformed their lives. Vaccination is beginning to reopen society and is working.

It was in that light that many of us earlier met members of Recover Irish Aviation, the group of pilots who attended outside Leinster House in what was a very impactful and reasonable demonstration and request. Many of the restrictions that are in place here are no longer in existence in many other countries throughout the European Union or the wider developed world. Obviously, there are other countries that have severe problems and simply do not have access to vaccines, and that is another day's work. In countries such as those in the European Union and the United States, however, progress has been made. Some of the pilots who spoke to me earlier had this morning arrived from New York, which is now behaving normally.

In the context of the progress we are making here and the different place in which we find ourselves from where we were when these Acts were originally passed, is there space to take a more pragmatic approach to the restrictions that are in place, examining measures such as rapid antigen testing? One of my sisters had a baby two weeks ago in Switzerland, and my other sister, who lives in London, was able to travel to see her having passed just an antigen test, and no problem has arisen as a result. That facility, however, is not available to Irish residents who wish to travel outside Ireland, and there is something we can do in that regard. There is an economic pressure on the aviation sector in particular. It is the gateway into and out of this country. As a small island off the coast of Europe, we must continue to engage with aviation and allow it to reopen in the best and safest way.This legislation is technical in essence. I respect the reason it has been brought to push further out the sunset of 9 June. However, that date did not come as a surprise. We knew it was coming. It was a hard stop in respect of the legislation. It is somewhat frustrating for us in this House to find ourselves once again in a situation where this legislation comes with very little opportunity for it to be properly scrutinised.

I know the Bill does not do very much except to extend those dates and I accept it is not a great feat of drafting to be able to do that. However, I have a problem with the fact that when the other Bills were going through this House last year, we identified reasonable problems and genuine issues with the legislation that has put in place many of the restrictions and the powers for gardaí. I spoke to the Minister afterwards and was under the impression that when we got another Bill on the subject, those issues would be addressed. In this Bill, they are not addressed and that is a real missed opportunity. This is not a complex Bill. There was room in it to fix sections of the amended Health Act 1947 which simply do not work.

I remember standing in this Chamber late on a Friday night last year, pushing through legislation so it would be signed by the President the next morning and be in effect for the weekend. I understand why the Government wanted to do that. It is entirely reasonable to have the legislation in place. However, the legislation was largely dysfunctional, and that view was expressed by many Members of this House. There was an iron-clad, easy opportunity to fix that in this Bill and it has not been done. That is the most frustrating thing. I recognise how much the Minister has done to safeguard us all and that his Department has done to roll out the protections and the solutions in terms of the vaccine programme. That is progress but with that we also had an opportunity to fix the problems we knew were there. That is a real missed opportunity.

I do not want to be negative about this. I think it is necessary. A Senator referred to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, saying that this is the most draconian legislation in the history of the State and that is probably true. It is draconian but this is also the greatest health crisis we have faced as a State. I understand the need for this legislation. I may not be happy with it, any more than any other citizen who is restricted by it. While I will support this legislation, I think there is a real missed opportunity to fix some of the lacunae in the Acts that have already become law.