Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There has been a great deal of finger-wagging over the weekend and even this morning on RTÉ by broadcasters calling for our cities to be locked down at weekends. Businesses that this Government closed have been scolded like bold children for allowing the crowds to gather. Today, I want to illustrate the contradictions in our plans for reopening this summer. In two days' time, on 2 June, I will be able to travel to a bed and breakfast or hotel anywhere in the country. Cross-county travel and small space gatherings will also be allowed in respect of bed and breakfasts and hotels on 2 June but restaurants, bars and cafes will remain closed.

It will not be until 5 July that our food and drink venues will be able to open indoor dining. In the meantime, however, I can eat inside a bed and breakfast or hotel. The CEO of the Restaurant Association of Ireland, RAI, Adrian Cummins, has called this practice discriminatory and unjust, and I agree with him. Why the double standard? Why can I travel to a bed and breakfast or hotel on 2 June to stay among other families that I may or may not know, while until 5 July it will remain an offence for me to have members of three other households in my home? There is a flaw in the Government's logic. In fact, there is a flaw in the Government, because it is not applying any logic at all. There is a problem with this because it affects people's lives. People in power are playing with people's lives. If those people and the Government want to stop playing and start helping, antigen testing should be given the go-ahead immediately and not in five weeks' or five months' time.The Government needs to stop pointing the finger at airline companies having to lay off workers and help them get back up and running by allowing those vaccinated to travel. It needs to start an interdisciplinary team, filled with people who have experienced different hardships and headaches throughout this pandemic, to open the discussion on addressing issues fairly and avoiding future lockdowns. This country will not take any more lockdowns. We need to stop the slow vaccine roll-out. We either need more vaccinators or we do not, but if we are to continue to search for them then somebody should reach out to the 1,200 pharmacists who have offered to provide vaccines. Variants will be with us for years to come. We need to live alongside Covid-19, not live in fear of it. Until we do, people with power are playing with people's lives and this is a very serious problem.