Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for outlining the Bill.

Our job here, as public representatives, is to make decisions that protect citizens and make a better life for anyone who lives in this country. That is what I feel we have to do here today. However, it is important that legislation is balanced in terms of all citizens. As Senator Gavan has said, it is important that the Opposition has an input into making changes that might have a positive impact on the proposed legislation. What we propose today is not something that we contemplated even two months ago. We looked forward to a lovely Christmas that everyone could enjoy and that people could come home from abroad to visit their families and loved ones whom they might not have seen for a long time. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It is necessary that we bring in this legislation to protect citizens. We do not want the same situation that we had last January where the health system was clogged up. On my way here this morning I heard Dr. Henry say on the radio that two hospitals may have to close due to the system being clogged up, loss of staff, etc.

I support the comments that have been made by my two colleagues, Senators Buttimer and Ahearn. Last Wednesday evening in this House, when the Minister for Health was here, I spoke fully in favour of vaccines and a vaccination certificate, and gave the figures. Over the last 48 hours, I have received hundreds of emails telling me that I am scum and a Nazi. I also received phone calls in the middle of the night. That is what one gets for standing up for what is right to protect people. I am not afraid of these people and reiterate that I am fully in favour of vaccinations and the vaccine certificate. Vaccines are there to protect citizens and that is backed up by facts. This morning I read a statement issued by the World Health Organization, which may have been released yesterday, that if the vaccine programme was not in place in this country then 9,000 citizens would have died over the last 12 months. People need to realise that fact. I know people in my own county who were unvaccinated and have died.That is what people need to think. We do not want to go into a situation where we must have mandatory vaccination. I would not be in favour of it. Such a move is being discussed in Germany, which is the top economy in Europe. From today, and I know this because my brother lives there, it is necessary to have a vaccination certificate to go into a shop. We have not brought in restrictions like that, but it is our job as public representatives to ensure that people are informed of the facts and not ill informed via the lies being put out there through all social media. I appeal to people to listen to the facts. More than 60% of people in our ICUs and hospitals are unvaccinated, and that is with unvaccinated people accounting for approximately 7% of our population. I felt I needed to put that on the record because I feel extremely strongly about this issue. As Senators will be aware, my mother passed away from Covid-19 and I went through the whole situation of standing at windows and not being able to visit and all that. This issue therefore means a great deal to me personally. If my mother was alive, she would be the first person to get vaccinated. Our job is to protect our citizens.