Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity and I thank all the Senators who participated so eloquently in the debate on this legislation. Senator Clifford-Lee set a clear tone at the start when she said that nobody wanted to be in here today, but we find ourselves in this unfortunate position. By and large, the tone of the contributions all the way through is that we are here to protect people. This legislation is a safety measure, as opposed to a measure needed immediately. It is a precautionary measure to enable the Government to be able to respond if the number of cases were to worsen, or whatever science tells us will emerge.

I must agree with what Senators Ahearn and Buttimer said when they talked about the measured tone of the contributions from Senators Boyhan and Gavan. We can have debate and different opinions, but what is important is how we communicate during such debate. Sometimes, using negative language to incite negative behaviour and to direct it at individuals has consequences. Senator Ahearn was right in his entire contribution. What is said on the floor of Dáil Éireann is sometimes an incitement to the behaviour I referred to, namely, the use of negative language and the rhetoric that will follow thereafter. That brings not only personal attacks on people, like Senator Carrigy has experienced, but also attacks on the parties involved and on the Government as a collective. Our role is to protect people and to ensure that we have the required amendments, legislation and, subsequently, laws to allow us to do that.

We never want to be in a position where we are not prepared. That is how we fail. If anything, what we have learned over the past 18 months is to be prepared. We have also learned to take on board lessons from situations where we could have done things better. Hence, this legislation that we are discussing today. We have seen much mention of hotel quarantine in recent iterations regarding how we could, and indeed have, improved upon it. I think it was Senator Martin who asked me about dedicated officers to hear appeals in this context. There are such officers in the form of a panel of barristers, and there is no shortage. The vast majority of appeals will be dealt with in considerably shorter times, and there is no issue now with it taking too much time. That is the sort of reassurance of which people need to be aware. In addition, guidance from the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, on vaccination for those aged under 12 is expected shortly, to address the query from Senator Clifford-Lee. The HSE is planning that roll-out and it is not being long-fingered.

If only one point were to come out of my contribution, and I have a long script from which I will read, it would be the importance of tone in communication at all times. We talk about bringing the people with us. Last night in the Lower House, all Deputies, bar six, supported the legislation that was passed. It was overwhelmingly supported. Why was that? It was because people knew it was the right thing to do. The tone used in communication in this regard, however, could suggest I might have felt I had drawn the short straw in coming in here. I say that because I know what it means to me to be standing here before the Seanad. It means that I am the face of the Government that has driven this legislation and brought it through. What does that mean to me? It means that at least 500 emails are waiting to be read back at my base, and they will state that I have misled, misinformed and misdirected the public. Therefore, I now become the public face of Government to be targeted for having brought through this legislation.

That is not why I am here. I am here because the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, are now taking parliamentary questions in the Lower House. As a collective, however, we have a responsibility, and I sit within the group of Ministers of State in the Department of Health. I chose to come into the House this morning because, like the Senator, I too believe in vaccines and that they work. We all believe in their efficacy and that is why we do this. As the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, on this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I have seen how vaccines have worked, how we have managed to protect the most vulnerable and keep essential services open. I have also seen what has been produced in the recent graphs depicting where the boosters have been implemented in nursing home and residential care settings. I can see that there is now a very low incidence of the virus there. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is a very relieved Minister, having seen the response to the vaccination programme. I am the same regarding the residential settings area of my portfolio.

That is the power of the vaccines and that is what we are trying to do. However, where people choose not to avail of the vaccines, and in a context where variants are emerging, the role and responsibility of the Government is to protect, to legislate and to be a step ahead. I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I also thank the officials in the Department. In addition, I thank all the Members of the Oireachtas who have done an overwhelming amount of work in the last seven days. We must remember that it was just this day last week that the Omicron variant was reported as breaking thorough. In seven days, therefore, we have shown our preparedness to respond adequately, as is required.