Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. In the motion before us the Government is proposing an extension of this legislation to 31 July. Before we have even voted on the motion, and there appears to be unanimous support for it across the House, many people will already begin asking when the next date will be. People will want to keep a rolling watch on how we proceed on this issue in the broader context of the easing of restrictions that, thankfully, is being rolled out over the next weeks and months.

It is important to remember, as was acknowledged by the Minister and other Senators, that this is a serious limitation on people's civil liberties. It is not normal, and it should never be seen or treated as normal. These are draconian emergency powers. That is why Members of the House wish to engage with the Minister on this matter and to ensure this is done as properly and appropriately as possible. Colleagues have spoken about some of the concerns about conditions in some of the hotels. It is right to raise that issue. My colleagues in the Dáil, Deputies Cullinane and O'Rourke, spoke extensively last week with the Minister in that House. The reason Sinn Féin gave for supporting quarantine at the time was that it would be helpful in containing the virus and that it was necessary to prevent the importation of new variants. It is significant that the Minister has said mandatory hotel quarantine has worked and has helped to contain the virus and prevent some new strains from entering the State. This fact is already being broadcast by journalists on social media. It is a vindication of NPHET's position and the position of those of us on the Opposition benches who called for the measure. NPHET began calling for it in May of last year but its request was not acted upon until ten months later. Medical advice cannot be selected on political grounds. As with any other public health measure, this has to be re-evaluated at all times. All of us have to listen to the public health advice. Our public health advisers will evaluate the status of Covid and its variants at any particular time and give the appropriate advice to the Government.

I want to make this point because it is key. None of us wants mandatory quarantine to remain in place a second longer than is necessary. It is the same for any public health measure. As the Minister said, mandatory hotel quarantine has worked to keep some of the new variants out and keep people safe.

As the restrictions more broadly unwind, it is important, as previous speakers noted, that we understand how the European digital green certificate for travel will work. The Minister has an opportunity this afternoon, and I hope he will take it, to outline some of the context of the changing nature of the restrictions pertaining to the quarantine in hotels. I have a particular interest, to be quite honest, to find out whether Irish citizens resident in the North will be able to avail of the digital green certificate. In the broader Brexit context, the Government offered to step in on issues such as the European health insurance card, retaining access to Erasmus funding and programmes for people in the North. In the context of our being in a post-Brexit environment and in light of the loss of so many rights and entitlements for Irish citizens in the North, I would welcome the Minister taking the opportunity today to clarify the position in this regard for us.

This brings me back to a point I made last week in another debate on health and Covid regarding the encouraging continued engagement between the Minister and his counterpart in the North. Obviously, in the context of travel and the fact we live on an island, it is crucial that the Ministers engage continuously as we navigate our way through this and, hopefully, start to emerge from it collectively and sensibly at the other end. We have seen what can happen when states take their eye off the ball. Like others, we support the extension proposed this afternoon because it is about keeping people safe. Also like others, we want to keep a particular and vigorous watching brief on this as we move forward.