Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

"In page 5, lines 5 to 18, to delete all words from and including “amended—” in line 5 down to and including line 18 and substitute the following: “amended in subsection (3) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) Part 3, continues in operation only until the 9th day of February 2022.”.”."

There is much to be said on these amendments. They are simple. They take the date of 9 February 2022 as a sunset clause for the Covid-19 regulations. The amendment was put forward by the Rural Independent Group in the Dáil, but only two amendments were moved on the account of the Stages of the Bill being rushed through. We have become used to that in these instances when the Government does not wish to be challenged.

I spoke last week about the often nonsensical approach of imposing restrictions based on the worst fears and pessimistic scenarios, particularly when our modelling of such scenarios has never once been accurate, insofar as they have been subsequently borne out. As of yet, all medical reports on the severity of the Omicron variant point towards symptoms being between not present and mild. However, the Government and the media panic machine have instead homed in on transmissibility and case numbers. These case numbers of course have been useless as a snapshot of public health ever since the vaccines severed the link between cases and hospitalisations. On top of that, the Omicron symptoms are mild, even in unvaccinated persons. None of this matters, of course. The Government has made up its mind and we are just here to go through the motions in order that the whip can be cracked and restrictions can continue to loom as a possibility all the way into the summer.

I recommend the amendments to the House. It is well past high time to send an unequivocal message to the Irish people that we are taking a step towards living with Covid-19 and doing away with yo-yoing lockdowns and foisting responsibility for the Covid-19 response on to the public.