Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the 40th anniversary of the emergence of another pandemic, which is the AIDS pandemic. Today is World AIDS Day and it is important that we mark the day in this Chamber, in particular the stigma that still surrounds HIV and AIDS. When HIV and AIDS first emerged in the late 1980s it was a pandemic that was laden with both moral and social judgment. I am somebody who grew up in the early 1990s in an area of Dublin that was very affected by HIV and AIDS and I believe that it is important to recognise how far we have come, particularly in terms of treatment. If one does not have a viral load and the virus is undetectable then it is not transmissible. We must also recognise that the provision of Covid healthcare means that there has been a drop in the number of people being diagnosed with HIV between 2018 to 2020. Therefore, I ask people to get tested if they suspect they may have HIV. It is an illness that one can live with. One can have a long and healthy life as long as one can access the drugs that manage the virus. On that latter point, it is important to recognise the discriminatory practices that are still in place in some countries.

In terms of people travelling, we saw people lose their heads on Thursday and flights from South Africa were banned because that country was ahead in sequencing the new variant. Somehow flights from a few countries in Africa to Europe have been banned so now it is worthwhile to ask the following question. If the sequencing had been identified in a European country or another country would we have been as quick to ban flights from coming here? It is important that we mark this matter.

I want to raise the issue of the participants in community employment services who were outside this place yesterday. In particular, I wish to refer to the shift from local employment services, a not-for-profit enterprise, to a tender system. The Department needs to examine this matter again. The tenders are meant to go out this month and the local employment services have a stay of execution that lasts 12 weeks. The Department needs to shift its focus and what it considers to fully support local employment services and resource community employment schemes. Unfortunately, the Department seems hell bent on pursuing a privatised approach. This matter was discussed in the Dáil last night and it is important that we have a discussion on the impact on local employment services this month before the tenders are published. People in many communities around this city and around the country are extremely worried about the shift from a locally-based local employment service to a for-profit and per placement service.