Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Of course, once July arrives the legislation will lapse and we will be free from restrictions - wink wink, nudge nudge. I hope the Minister realises there is no coming back from this. After this, no one will take a sunset clause seriously again; no one in this room or outside it. Once you throw this integral element of legislation under the bus, there is no pulling it back. Future Dáileanna and Seanaid and future generations, when presented with time-sensitive legislation by the government of their day, will be able to point to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the Cabinet of Micheál Martin and say that sunset clauses are not worth the paper they are written on.

Aside from that, I have become very concerned over recent days at the bigger picture of the global response to Covid. Let us run through a few recent developments and see if we can join the dots. First, we have a tale of two countries. Germany's new Government wants to make vaccinations compulsory whereas Austria's brand new Government has lifted its lockdown for everyone except for the unvaccinated. Germany cut straight to the chase: your body belongs to the state and, under threat of force, you will comply. Austria insidiously preserves the illusion of freedom while locking people in their homes until they freely choose to undergo the rite of passage and be reborn into the new normal. It is simple, really. Take the jab and get your freedoms back, except for point 2.

The Israeli ministry of health has announced it will soon approve the fourth vaccine shot. It will mean that all those with three shots who do not get a fourth shot will have their Covid passes revoked, as happened to those with two shots. That precious Covid cert upon which your freedoms hinge can be invalidated by the wave of a wand and you will have to obey it again to get it back, and again and again and again because of point 3.

Pfizer's CEO has said that people will likely need to have an annual Covid vaccination for many years to come. In other news, the CEO of Coca-Cola recommends a can with every meal, because I am sure he is just concerned for people's safety. Let us check the stock markets. What is that? Point 4. In the week that Omicron was discovered, the wealth of the eight top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders rose by a combined €9 billion.

I will outline the lesson takeaways. Governments globally have collectively made ordinary participation in society contingent upon consumption of the product of a private company, under direct or indirect threat of force. Over the past two years, the livelihoods of ordinary people have been steadily siphoned into the pockets of pharma and tech giants. The only hope we have is in recognising this is entirely unsustainable and will end. I hope this will be sooner rather than later.

I want to bring up another issue. As the Minister may be aware, in the UK a certificate has been brought in for those who for some reason, be it medical or other, may have the first vaccination and cannot get the second or may not be able to get any vaccine. Those people have been given a cert. It is absolutely disgusting that those who are not vaccinated have had their freedoms curtailed and I do not believe they should have, but the people who have been medically unable to take a vaccine have had their freedoms curtailed as well. I want the Minister to look at the legislation the UK has brought in for that cohort of people. Please do it immediately because we are letting down the people of Ireland.