Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----or compare the Minister for Health to medical apartheid. We have all got messages from people who have been ill-informed, gone down rabbit holes and almost cannot be brought back in their view of this pandemic. We blame RTÉ, and rightly so, and we blame the media and social media but these Houses have a responsibility. The Oireachtas commission that acts in the best interests of how these Houses are run, needs to reflect on the language that is spoken in these Houses and the impact that has on society going forward. We need to keep people on message in terms of protecting people's lives. Most of the decisions we make are to protect people and, in particular, to protect the people who, for whatever reason, have decided not to protect themselves. That is the reason most of these measures are in place. In Ireland, at the moment, if one is unvaccinated and over the age of 45 but ends up in ICU then one is more than likely to come out dead than alive. Those are the facts. Everything that we do as a Government and as legislators is to protect people and, most importantly, to protect the people who seem to not, for whatever reason, want to protect themselves.

In my role as spokesperson on enterprise and trade, I welcome the fact that the Cabinet is meeting today to discuss the legislation that has been brought through. Can we please support the hospitality sector and make the decision today? If we are making decisions on protecting people in our communities then let us make a decision today on protecting people in the hospitality sector.