Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their contributions. There was a marked difference between them and some of those made in the Dáil. I congratulated Deputy Bacik on entering the Dáil but suggested to her that she would see some different styles of debate there compared with what that which obtains in the Seanad. I thank everybody for a useful debate, which included much criticism that I listened to carefully and must take on board.

I have a closing speech but I have taken many notes and would prefer to try to address the various themes that were raised. The first of those relates to solidarity. We all want solidarity. When I was talking to Dr. Mike Ryan from the WHO last year, he said that Ireland is distinguished internationally by the level of political and social solidarity we have shown. He said that it is one reason we will come out of this with one of the lowest mortality and case rates. It is critical that we have solidarity. I have been talking to many unvaccinated people about these proposals. They have said that we can open up and get tens of thousands of people back to work tomorrow. The unvaccinated people say they can still go for dinner or for a drink but will have a drink in the beer garden and if that means that tens of thousands of people can get back to work, including many of their friends, then we should do it now. They say that people have been out of work for a year and a half and that we should get them back to work. They tell me that all I am asking them to do is drink in the beer garden and it is no problem. That is what solidarity means. It means taking a hit for the greater good and for other people.

Some people here and in the Dáil suggest that solidarity means that if they cannot have something, then nobody should be allowed to have it. That is not what solidarity involves. I have not met any unvaccinated person who has said that because it is not how people outside this bubble think. People outside this bubble think that we are doing great. We are faced with a significant wave of the Delta variant. Unvaccinated people say that this has been a horrible experience for our country but that if we can get tens of thousands of men and women back to work, then let us do so and that all they have to do is to wait until they get the Janssen vaccine at their local pharmacy or the Pfizer vaccine at a vaccination centre, which is not a problem. That is what solidarity means.

The only Senator who I will refer to directly is Senator Mullen. I will not take any lectures from Senator Mullen, who campaigned against gay marriage. He can keep his lectures on solidarity to himself.