Seanad debates
Monday, 31 May 2021
Health (Amendment) Act 2021: Motion
10:30 am
Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source
I welcome the Minister. We are debating the resolution. I thank the Minister because this week he will accept limiting some of the powers because resolution is not the ideal way to extend legislation. I am conscious that this is for a limited period until July.
With regard to mandatory hotel quarantine, the Minister outlined the important impact it has already had. We can see the number of cases that have been caught and prevented from having a multiplier effect and the capture of new variants. More than 1% or 2% of those who entered the system had the new variant and its capture is significant. However, I am conscious that some of the issues we flagged when the original legislation went through have arisen. The Minister is aware that at the time we debated the original legislation, I tabled amendments in respect of certain details on how the rights of persons in mandatory hotel quarantine should be respected.There are some human rights concerns in terms of addressing questions of how people engage with pharmacies or needs related to medical conditions and so forth. We have seen some of those playing out and perhaps we could have had more detail about that in the legislation, which would have allowed us to avoid some of those concerns.
I had another concern when the legislation went through. While I very much supported mandatory hotel quarantine, and this related to concerns about cost, it should not be that we regard mandatory hotel quarantine as a deterrent whereby it becomes so financially laborious that only some people can afford it. I note that Dr. Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization has specifically stated there should be no financial penalties and states could and should subsidise to a greater degree the cost of mandatory hotel quarantine. This means it would not unfairly burden individuals with the cost of what are public health actions. That was the direction from the World Health Organization and I had amendments in respect of that. I understand there has been some case-by-case engagement on that matter but perhaps the Minister will provide some clarity on it. It is a concern and it should not be the case that this is expensive. People travelling for essential reasons come from every income bracket in society and should not be in the position where they feel they cannot, for example, travel because of what may be an emergency for them.
I also had concerns in respect of visas. There is a parallel measure whereby visas from certain countries were being restricted, despite the presence of mandatory hotel quarantine. We know people had said they would have been happy to go through mandatory hotel quarantine but wanted their family to be able to join them. I understand the rules changed on 20 May but I urge engagement with the Department of Justice to ensure all those provisions introduced in January that restricted access to visas for essential workers and their families would be changed. Some visa access was restored last week on 20 May but it is really important we do not end up having a parallel system whereby, effectively, the fact that a person is from a certain country is used to determine whether that person is welcome in Ireland. That is instead of there being appropriate public health measures that are required for those people to go through. These are different processes.
I have an overriding concern about the all-or-nothing approach. We have mandatory hotel quarantine and the Minister is aware of some of the concerns. There is now a move to argue that a second PCR test should allow a person to move from that quarantine. I am concerned for all those people not in mandatory hotel quarantine. What will happen as this system begins to be dismantled? The people coming into the country are still meant to be isolating and we still need to ensure there is testing. Will the Minister indicate what will be the procedures for those people? For example, the United States has now come off the list for mandatory hotel quarantine but will we nonetheless make a follow-up phone call after five days to inform people arriving from there where they can get a test? People are still meant to be isolating in that context.
I am thinking in particular of the B1.617.2 variant, which we have seen having an extremely severe impact in the UK even on those people who are vaccinated. It is still very appropriate that we are clear that people not being in mandatory hotel quarantine does not mean they can go about their business as they wish. After arriving, people should still be expected to self-isolate and the State should follow up to check that this happens up until the PCR test after five days. Will the Minister speak to that component, which will be part of our ongoing safety?
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