Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that comprehensive update on the current operating environment of the mandatory hotel quarantine system. It is right and proper that we are back here debating it and we will be back debating it in another number of weeks. It is a draconian measure and we all acknowledged that when we were first debating it. It is very dramatic to require inbound passengers from certain countries to quarantine in a hotel. It is depriving them of their freedom and their ability to move around but it is very necessary. It was welcomed by a lot of groups when it happened.

As the Minister pointed out, over 4,500 people have entered mandatory hotel quarantine since it began, and 178 Covid-19 cases were detected as a result. That is significant because as we know, each one of those cases would have resulted in multiple infections if they had been allowed to circulate, particularly the 59 cases of variants of concern that have been detected within the mandatory hotel quarantine system. It is very welcome. It has avoided the onward community transmission, which has allowed our economy and country to open up. The beautiful weather at the weekend meant that we all saw people out and about in their communities and moving around the country. That was possible because we have managed to control these variants of concern. This system has worked, as the Minister outlined, and I am glad to see that it will be continuing. However, it is under constant review and the four countries the Minister named that have been taken off the mandatory quarantine list are significant. Many Irish people live in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the USA. Our tourism industry will also depend a great deal on visitors coming from the USA this summer, so I am glad to see it has been taken off the mandatory quarantine list.

As we continue this debate, I hope our colleagues here and in the other House will refrain from engaging in hypocrisy regarding this system. We heard about a zero Covid strategy when we were debating this and other health measures previously. It was explained that the deployment of such a strategy in this country would require a very hard lockdown for many months. I hope that colleagues will not be hypocritical and call for the mandatory hotel quarantine system to be abandoned when only a short time ago they were calling for a zero Covid strategy. It is right and proper that we are extending this measure for the next couple of weeks. The digital green certificate is coming in on 19 July and that will be a game changer. I hope, therefore, that we can engage in respectful debate for the rest of this afternoon.