Deputy Mary Lou McDonald - speech from 27 Jan 2021

Taoiseach, I want to raise with you your announcement yesterday of the extension of Level 5 restrictions. January has proved to be the most deadly month of this pandemic and so naturally people are very anxious, they're fearful, they're worried for the future. Families have been bereaved, people are sick and people's lives are on hold indeed. There are many who haven't seen a day's work now in almost a year and businesses are to the pin of their collar in a struggle for survival. So people now feel the burden of this crisis like never before and so yesterday all looked to government to deliver a clear and concrete plan of action. They looked to government to indicate that you have a handle on this crisis but what we got instead is a government that is clearly at sixes and sevens with no idea of how to proceed beyond March 5th. A government that yet again has failed to prepare, failed to consult and failed to plan. So instead of a real plan you have presented half measures that simply don't go far enough and at your press conference contradiction and confusion between ministers was rife and clarity and certainty was in very scarce supply. And this absence of urgency of leadership and of plain common sense quite frankly has caused huge alarm for many people. I mean one group who are particularly distressed today are this year's Leaving Certificate students. They're under enormous pressure, they need to know what is happening now, they've made very clear their position, they want fairness, they want choice, they want an alternative method of assessment alongside the option of the traditional exam and I think it's now time for you and for the Minister to make absolutely clear that you will facilitate this choice for those students and give them the clarity they need. However, the biggest mess from your announcement yesterday is undoubtedly your proposal on international travel because what you announced not alone goes against public health, health advice, it goes against common sense, it's not a system of mandatory quarantine, it is in fact one of voluntary self isolation and you propose to send people back to homes and other accommodation with other people, people who may be going out to work, people who will go into our shops and stores and therefore risk the spreading of this virus, that to me is absolutely crazy. I think people were very shocked by the footage on the television last night of people returning home from places like Lanzarote, clearly non-essential travel and yet your proposal places all hope in people's discretion to self-isolate. I have to say Taoiseach your plan is unenforcing. this morning saying that you have failed to consult with them behavior they are in disbelief at what you have announced so this uh half uh measure plan isn't going to work it's also you tell us going to take weeks if not months to implement and overall it leaves people on our island exposed the right measure Taoiseach is to is for a system of complete universal mandatory hotel quarantine for travelers onto our island that's the only thing that stands a chance of helping us to achieve the maximum suppression of this virus and this of course has to happen as part of an all-island approach that ensures no airport and no port on this island is left without the protection that we need to stop the importation of this virus and any new variants so a decisive action like that Taoiseach would say very clearly to our people and to people beyond that this government means business when it comes to protecting our people so i want to ask you Taoiseach to turn away from the half measure that you announced yesterday and to implement now a proper quarantine regime thank you Taoiseach first of all um i think we should acknowledge uh that yesterday we passed a very sad figure a threshold of three thousand uh people who have died in the republic from from from covet 19 and 1760 have passed in northern ireland uh our thoughts and our prayers are with the families of those who have been bereaved by this deadly virus this very dangerous virus which constantly evolves and which is causing such devastation to people's lives and to societies across the world i want to make it very clear uh there will be no half measures uh from me as Taoiseach or from government in ensuring a prolonged suppression of this virus and we will do whatever it takes um to keep the numbers down once we get the numbers down and we are achieving that and the irish people are achieving that the num case numbers are falling very steeply as we speak the swift introduction of level five over christmas but critically the adherence of the irish people to those guidelines is resulting in a steep decline in numbers that said the key metric for me and it's not a metric but it's a reality for the frontline healthcare workers who are performing heroically on behalf of us all for a prolonged period of time but critically during this critical phase of covet in assisting all those who get covet and who are hospitalized and for me we have to get the numbers of hospitalizations down and the numbers of people in intensive care down but when we get them down we can never allow them back up to the levels that they are at now and that is very clear as far as i am concerned and that will mean prolonged suppression of the virus in this country and that will mean for everybody in this house you know i don't really want people coming to me again after the 5th of march saying special pleading for this sector or that sector or another sector we simply have had too much of that um and i get the education and i get the necessity to deal with special needs children and to provide for them and the minister of education is engaging with all of the partners we should allow space for the partners in education and the minister of education to facilitate the return of children with special needs to our schools and also to deal and comprehensively and in a clear way with the situation facing or leaving certificate students who have gone through a very difficult period because they're in fifth year last year and and suffered as a result of school closures and this year again as a result of the pandemic and coming out of the christmas period and the schools are closed um and there will be provision made for them but again the minister is working with the partners and with the national advisory committee on the exams which has student voices which has devices of teachers and also management and the state examination board as well which has a key role in this uh and uh will be coming back in a comprehensive way to to present options for the leaving certificate students um of this year but we do need um you know in in in terms of uh the the the rollout of this in terms of sorry sorry the evolution of this what we have now which we didn't have last year is the vaccination rollout uh and the vaccines the evidence base for the vaccines is they prevent mortality and they prevent uh illness and i think that will give us choices um towards mid-year uh when we will have significant numbers vaccinated but the strategy as far as i'm concerned is very clear it will be a prolonged suppression of the virus the introduction quarantine and the additional capacities that would be provided to the state to extend that if necessary is there also as an additional measure thank you the key measure is human behavior human behavior is what stops the spread of the virus and thankfully parish people have responded very very effectively for this latest phase thank you very much deputy mcdonald and he shook you have set out the very reason and rationale as to why half measures are not enough at this time because you're absolutely right this virus is devastating and deadly and we have a hard road ahead of us and most people are compliant most um some will not be but the reality is for us to maintain maximum suppression we of course rely on human behavior one behavior that cannot be countenanced is unnecessary international travel that's that's one behavior that we need to knock on uh the head and the most effective way the most um the most powerful message that can come from government at this time is one of universal quarantine if you come to the island of ireland any part of us you will face a 14 day mandatory quarantine that is what is required at this time and astonishingly you haven't option uh opted for that you opt for a system that relies on people's best discretion and judgment in isolating in their own home furthermore you didn't you didn't even consult with on guard the shia corner who now say that they fear for the health and safety of their members t-shirt this is not the way to go this is a mistake and it's a mistake that you should remedy now you should recognize what is required what also has the support of the people now who will walk those hard yards but expect their government to lead from the front well i expect everybody to lead from the front uh the problem with you deputy unfortunately you've been on the fence for a lot of this uh and you've clung to the fence for as long as you possibly can i remember a headline on the 18th of september on the irish daily star you know all the pubs should open said mary lou there should be no reason why all the pubs shouldn't have opened again that was your view then whatever was fashionable whatever was the trend you jumped on board that has been your consistent approach to this um and jumping on the bandwagon when it suits and your answer your your your views on northern ireland have been brazenly untrue your statements yesterday and over the last two days you should speak to your deputy uh first minister your colleague they will tell you that we have worked very earnestly and in a proactive way with the northern ireland executive your deputy you're on the northern ireland executive your party is on it and has failed to gain the consensus required in relation to some of the issues but we will do we will continue to work in a constructive fashion with the northern ireland executive and also in terms of somebody's measures on travel they will not take weeks to implement time is implemented very quickly um and very fast but it's time for consistency all wrong from all sections in the house here including your own party in relation thank you very much and as i said earlier prolonged suppression is what is required we will be introducing legislation in terms of the quarantining capacity and we look forward to your support now deputy cats