Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Normally, I stay to the end of the Order of Business because it is polite to listen to the Leader's response. In the light of the figures we have seen, however, I will return to my office and pay attention when I watch her response on the monitor. I mean no offence to the Leader. I opened the window here a minute ago when I heard Senator Garvey talk about clean air week. We need more ventilation. We need get back to the basics and focus on them. We know the figures are going up and doing so in the wrong way but we need an urgent debate on how to manage our situation as we head towards Christmas. Every effort must be all Senators who wants to contribute to a debate on having a successful, safe and prosperous Christmastime during which we can socialise safely.I cannot imagine how difficult it is for pubs and people in the late-night hospitality and restaurant industries. They were closed for 585 days. They will have been open for 27 days and will be closing again, at least after midnight, from this Thursday evening. It is important that the Government maintains the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the pandemic unemployment payment for people working in these sectors. This is their livelihood, as Senator Sherlock said earlier, and it is important that we take that on board.

We also need to look at areas that have not been addressed, such as better ventilation. I do not think I will offend the Leader by saying that she is probably blue in the face talking about antigen testing and its role. It is not the be-all and end-all. My understanding is that PCR tests are incredibly expensive to process - I think the cost is over €100 - while antigen tests are much cheaper. They could mean that some people who do not believe they have Covid-19 and are asymptomatic will decide to have a test before going out and will then stay at home in order to stop the spread.

We all need to do our best. We need to keep to the basics, such as washing our hands, wearing masks and not socialising unnecessarily or unsafely. Equally, we need to allow those in hospitality to function properly. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for them, having restarted the industry, to have this thrown at them in what is probably the busiest six weeks of their year. We need to have a debate, whether it is with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, or the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. We need the Ministers to come to this Chamber to discuss how we keep these businesses alive and keep ourselves alive in the weeks and months ahead.