Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 6, lines 10 to 22, to delete all words from and including “amended—” in line 10 down to and including line 22 and substitute the following: “amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) Part 2 shall continue in operation only until the 9th day of February 2022.”.”.

Amendments Nos. 12 and 15 were tabled by Deputy Cullinane in the Lower House. They address one of the huge problems with the Government's response to Covid, which is the complete lack of data. There has been no investigation into the evidence-based proportionality of measures and the effect their implementation has had on either Covid or people's lives and livelihoods. Time and again, impact assessments, rationales, reports and reviews have been asked for in this House and those requests have been met with titbits of hastily pulled together figures, if even that. These amendments place an explicit onus on the Government to prove that its approach is appropriate and proportionate, considering the impact of these decisions on the lives of all the people in this country, instead of limiting its views of public health to the Covid case numbers.

I am an Independent Senator. I do not need anyone else in this Chamber. I do not have a political party behind me and my amendments are solely in my name. Senator Clifford-Lee pointed out that I am here on my own. These are my amendments so obviously I would be here on my own to talk about them.

Civil liberties have gone out the window since these new public health measures were introduced. All we are seeking is that a data impact assessment statement be put before this House regarding the measures we have taken, the lives and livelihoods that have been affected, the years that have been missed and the effect that has had on all our society, including young people, our elderly, those who are in isolation and those in business. All we want is an impact assessment or statement outlining the impacts of the Covid restrictions and measures we have introduced. I would like that to be brought before the House as part of this Bill.