Mattie McGrath says cabinet 'anti-Christian' over church limits

Yes, and thank you very much Count Cawler for giving us this topic of debate. It's a hugely sensitive and important issue to thousands and tens of thousands of people. The right to worship and the mixed messages coming from the cabinet. The Garda headquarters press office can't say which or whether. Minister Donnelly informed his house, informed us that no priest would be summoned or he would be fined. The opposite has happened. I hope they'll take a leaf. Now look at what happened in Scotland this week and see where the Scottish Supreme Court have stood this down and said it was in breach of Europe. European rights. We're great Europeans in this country always and want to be your government. So now we have to observe that if it's against European rights, Scotland's rights, it's against ours. So I'm calling on the cabinet. I'm appealing, especially for Holy Week and ceremonies. And funnels cannot be restricted to 10 people. Big families. It's causing huge difficulties for police and for undertakers and everybody else. So I'm saying that this cabinet will go down in history as the most anti-Christian cabinet and government of all time. Since we got our freedom back, gallant leaders and tipperary. We fought for our independence to think that the people have been persecuted for going to Mass or for having public worship. Paris, please contact me today. He saw a note on a window where nine people go into a chipper or a takeaway and nobody inside the church. It is shameful, pitiful. Thank you. I hope we get a good response. Thank you. And I would like to thank deputies McGrath, Nolan, Collins and O'Donoghue for raising this important matter. And as the deputy, it's not my first time either, Cianne Corley, to take this particular issue. I took it a number of weeks ago from the deputies as well. And as the deputies are aware that the current public health restrictions at level five will remain in place until the 5th of April 2021, when a further review will be conducted. And this decision took account of a variety of factors, including the views of the national public health emergency team and the current epidemiology of COVID-19 and the need to take decisive action. The government remains united in its resolve to tackle the spread of COVID-19, the disease prevention and control strategy, and we have adopted to seek to prevent the spreading of this virus amongst our population and the greatest extent possible. Based on the current epidemiology situation and the public health restrictions that are in place, it will be necessary to celebrate Easter online at home this year. This is for the protection of our friends, our families and our wider communities. The basic public health advice and regulatory measures aimed at blocking the transmission of COVID-19 from person to person remain vital. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have emphasised that many measures that can be taken for keeping to do this, like keep our distance, wash your hands, wearing our face masks and avoiding crowds to take these measures. The COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery Plan continues to provide an appropriate mechanism to guide decision making, and it will continue to be supplemented by more detailed information. We have detailed sectorial guidance in relation to measures that apply at each level of the framework. We continue to see good progress, but it needs to be sustained. Speaking on a personal basis, I would like to assure the deputies that I am extremely conscious of the burdens which have been placed on all members of society as a result of the restrictions that have been imposed. Many people have been able to live their lives the way they normally would, or participate in the usual rhythms of their community. I know that very many people in Ireland have not been able to go to local church, but it has been particularly difficult during this lengthened period and also again for Holy Week, which is a major source, as Deputy Norland said, as a source of comfort and solace at what is a very difficult time for our country and indeed for the world. Unfortunately, as the members of the House now know, the environment in which COVID spread most easily is indoors, where a group of people are gathered. At this particular moment in time, when we are doing our utmost to break the transmission cycle of the virus, that means we regrettably have to make every effort to reduce gatherings. I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work that the Catholic Church and other faiths have done to put in place comprehensive guidelines to protect their communities in compliance with the HSE Public Health Advice. And we hopefully will be able to move back from Level 5 in the near future. Consistent with Level 5 restrictions, however, at this time, religious services have moved online. Places of worship are open for private prayer, so they aren't closed, Deputy Collins. Places of worship are open. There are exceptions for funerals where 10 mourners may be in attendance and weddings whereby six guests may attend. Importantly, under the current public health regulations, ministers of religion are also permitted to travel to perform a service online, administer the sick and conduct a funeral or a wedding ceremony. Since March 2020, we have learned to live in a world with this virus. We succeeded in doing this thanks to the collective efforts of all of us who adhere to the guidelines, and we can do again. I will take on board everything that was said this evening and bring back to Minister Donnelly what was said by the four TDs. Thank you. I'm shocked and disappointed, Count Kohler, that this reply, that they would not be open for Easter. Minister Donnelly said in his house that there wasn't penal provisions affecting the police. Federal Hughes proved otherwise. We're plouting with European law, so. The justice saw in Scotland was wrong, and he accepted the case and said that our European rights in Scotland were being denied. So we can do what we like, what we like in Europe. Shame, shame, shame on you is all I say. It's just so sad that this could happen in such a way, and such a response to read out here to me tonight. It's unchristian, it's uncaring, and it's shocking to think that people will be denied of all faiths to have their services for Easter. It's just, it's beyond belief, and it's not, and the liars, Dick King-Gandy's case, I said you, Dick King-Gandy, couldn't, the government liars couldn't answer. They got two weeks, how cleverly of the justice there and the others to put up back to the left of Easter, two weeks to answer. Imagine the court case, they couldn't answer the questions, whether it's legal or not. They got a commissioner, can't, or press office, and you come in tonight and spout out that dietype to us. It's shocking. Thank you, Deputy Deputy. I want to thank the deputies for raising this this evening, and I don't want to stand here and not to show empathy or understanding to what the deputies have raised, and I do, Deputy, don't know who, understand about the internet, absolutely. And that's what some of my constituency experiences as well. So, like, I think, in all fairness, your points are very well made. Absolutely, all three, all four of you, your points are really made. And it's not that we are turning our back on their church. What has happened is we've decided to put public health first. That is the most Christian thing we could possibly do, and that is what this government has done. They have put public health first for the betterment of everybody. That is what they have done. But there is dialogue, and the Taoiseach has met with the heads of the church, and I hope that that conversation does continue. That when we come out of where we are in level five, and you are right as well, if I can just finish here, Ciancola, the churches did conduct themselves in a really responsible way, and that's important, and it needs to be acknowledged. And, yes, they had plenty of support, and they had plenty of ushers there to ensure that distance was kept, to ensure that people could be protected at best they could. But, unfortunately, we have found ourselves where we are at this moment in time. And we will, if your case is put forward, as I said, I will bring it again to Deputy Donnelly, Minister Donnelly, after tonight's meeting, here tonight. But at this moment in time, government has put public health for the entire community, right across this island, first. Thank you.