Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I cannot support this legislation. This plan is unworkable. I do not need to tell the House that young people put their lives on hold to protect older people and their families and friends. They did that to reduce the risk of getting long Covid, as the previous speaker outlined. Many of us have met or know people who have had to endure long Covid. Young people sacrificed their personal freedoms. They had to listen to whataboutery, as it were, on more than one occasion. It got a bit like The Valley of the Squinting Windowsat times.

This legislation is not based on public health advice or scientific advice and is hardly enforceable because it is incredibly light touch. It will be done on a nod-and-wink basis. Regarding the HSE, An Garda Síochána and the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, I wonder how it will be enforced. The detail regarding compliance officers is quite sketchy. The Department and Government have been unable so far to say how many compliance officers there will be or what exactly they will do. I would welcome the Minister's comments on that in his response. There has been no investment that I am aware of in the HSA or the HSE to do this work. God knows, the HSE has enough to do. Whatever about An Garda Síochána monitoring businesses that may have been open when they should not have been during the strictest level five lockdowns, it will not touch this with a bargepole.

I am also concerned about the lack of engagement with workers, unions and with the Six Counties. There does not seem to have been co-operation with the North. It has been covered here by the Minister. Yesterday, Dr. Tony Holohan encouraged vaccinated people to be very careful when using hospitality venues and going indoors, but what about the young people who must work indoors? What about the young people who are working in these establishments where there is food, where people will not be wearing masks and where there will be unvaccinated people aged under 18? I cannot support the proposals that lock young people out because they have not received a vaccine but where, as unvaccinated workers, they will be asked to come in.It is not beyond us to come up with a plan that includes everyone and keeps a lid on the fourth wave.

While I will not be supporting the Bill, we are tabling some sensible amendments that I hope will be taken on board. Obviously, there is a significant majority in this House so I ask that these amendments, particularly those relating to PCR testing, be taken on board if the Bill passes.