Mattie McGrath warns vaccine passports are discriminatory

First of all I want to thank actually and wish to everybody that was involved in dealing with the front line services and the volunteers and the G8 clubs and the visitors and the garage-ray corner and everybody else who worked so hard and put their shoulder to the wheel and the tens of thousands of people who signed up to help for Ireland but weren't respected or weren't asked only a handful of them were and they wanted to give their services could I also say it's our last second last day in this building to thank the staff here in this convention center and Farroost, O'Deer, O'Castle de Moan, Mr O'Dwyer, he's retired, I was in Cranibarum history, he was chairperson when we came first. They made us welcome, we railed against them but they made us welcome and the ushers, the guard, the and everybody else have made us and the secretary staff from Peter Finnegan down. You've been really, really put your shoulder to the wheel and helped us all and we weren't maybe the easiest to manage at times but that's very important as we say that this week because you all helped us from the front door right into the chamber and the garage corner and that as well. I'm really perplexed and confused at this government. This motion has been accepted by the government. I want to thank Breen and indeed David Mullins and indeed Deputy Michael McNamara for a different group, an independent group for valuable input into this motion and we're aware with a docile government again, they're not going to oppose it and they're not going to debate it properly. It's a great motion and we agree with it but yet they will come in this evening and introduce a deconian piece of discriminatory legislation into this house that we have no prelegative scrutiny and no proper debate. We had 45 minutes in total for the full sections, for the committee stage and final debate. With that increase we've doubled and we have 140 minutes. I mean our groups will only have 10 minutes each. In the second last day of the last dawn, why the indecent haste and rush? You say you want to open up hospitality but you're going the very wrong way about it. So this is an out. We put this motion in front of it in the hope that backbenchers who are telling their constituents that they support it, they want everything opened and they're coming in and voting the opposite way. So they got out of the gap by not voting in this motion, which the government are doing very cleverly now lately to get the heat off them. But they come in tonight and forced to, forced to, on a guillotine. As I said, horrible piece of legislation that many people have described it. The government moved to systematically introduce a vaccine passport authorisation scheme to enter a proper restaurant or any hospitality, bus, anything, is both unethical and discriminatory. It represents a very severe and intrusive plan to create unviable and unoqual segregation with unvaccinated people forced to remain outdoors. It is an unconstitutional restriction of persons' rights to bother the integrity and personal freedoms under the constitution. That's quite clear. COVID passports would be digital identity cards by the back door. That's quite obvious what's happening here. Giving public authorities, such as the Gardnersey Corner or anybody else, access to biometric and healthcare data. This tin end of the wedge point is an important one, particularly given the public authorities in Ireland have not always graced themselves in glory with regards to records. We saw HSE records dumped in tips and dumps and everywhere else, and leaks and selective leaks. It's shocking. The government's approach and the ongoing research has just gone too far. Ongoing overreach has gone too far. The steering move requiring us to show our help papers wherever we go is truly extraordinary. As I said, they say they want to help is an open possibility, and by taking this motion it's a total cop-out. This system, if anyone adheres to it, seeks to divide people of Ireland into two classes. And goodness knows we had that for long enough. Those who have received the vaccine, and those who have not. Such demands would be a violation of citizens' civil and constitutional rights under Bunrocknagin. And I'd remind the people again of the ceremony last Sunday, which I refused to attend in Dublin Castle, on behalf of our group. Where we commemorated the 100th anniversary of our freedom. And how dearly that was fought for. From Michael Connans to Sean O'Tracy, to the people up and down the country. Dini, Lacey, you name them. Tipperary fired the first shots and they were commemorating the twos. And their government drafters and the AG's office were drafting this piece of legislation, which is totally taking away our rights. And walking on the constitution. I'd ask them to reflect calmly and coolly and collectively on that. Where are they? What kind of a trance are they in? Ireland has experienced the longest and deepest lockdown anywhere in the world. Now at this point, when every other country has reopened indoor hospitality. Irish pubs, restaurants, cafes and other entertainment venues, art centres. Which have been closed here for much of the past 16 months. With the latest national lockdown in place since December. I've been forced to implement a draconian scheme. Where only vaccinated people may enter. Just think about it. Just think about it. For example, all of Europe, the UK, USA and Canada are allowing all indoor hospitality to return to normal. In fact, many have done so for months now. In Ireland, the government are banning such premises to reopen to indoor dining. Instead, coming up with a completely unworkable and ridiculous vaccine passports situation. That causes segregation. Causes discrimination. You call it nothing else. Minister Feehan replied to us there. In effect, it will mean that the unvaccinated staff members serving vaccinated customers. It would also mean that the unvaccinated staff having to check paperwork to assess whether potential customers are vaccinated or not. You couldn't make it up. You just couldn't make it up. If you asked children in junior infants to do it, they wouldn't do it as bad. As I said, it could also mean that unvaccinated, due to their age, Gardaí having to monitor or to assess whether the potential customers to a restaurant are probably vaccinated. And could I say, in this legislation that has rushed and not been properly debated, the Minister for Health has been bestowed in this very article in which we put down an amendment to a rural independent group. The powers have been bestowed on him again to introduce any and which whatever statutes range that he likes, to give anyone, any group, let it be a private security company, they could be there and our ugly in the hand, our army, anybody to go and enforce this legislation. That is the most dangerous part of this. And we'll be gone from this convention centre to the hills for the next number of weeks and he can introduce any he likes. And we see the record of what he has introduced and the dangers. With no proper sunset clause or no scrutiny. So look, Minister, we're told that there are 300 HSE officials, there are 70 HSE officials going to release this, we're in Gardaí in the corner, but they can introduce any other cohort of people. And I dreaded the thought there might be private security that would get this job. Where is the democracy in that? Where is the government logic in that? And as I said, you're not making it easy for anyone, Minister. It's just total confusion after confusion. You let them up to Gardaí Hospitality, they'd be open last Monday week. And then in the 19th, 11th and a half hour of the last hour, you said they couldn't, they wouldn't be open. And you'd work with them. Why didn't you work with them for all the months they've been closed? Some of them have been closed for 500 days. Good business people who want to give employment, pay their taxes, give service to the public and do that. But no, you couldn't do that. You just destroyed them. Same with the religious services of all faiths have been just banished again. People have wanted to make their confirmations and they have four times been postponed. People have wanted to make their first communion. Sacraments that people value and they'd like to have them and nourish. Spiritual nourishment is so important. And I salute the parish councils and the priests and the clergymen and the laypeople who have done such gallant work throughout the whole period in cleansing and making their places safe. And why aren't they allowed open-minded? There's an inbuilt, inherent discrimination in what is here before us today. Inbuilt, inherent, so discriminatory I couldn't get words really to describe it. As I said, look at the hospitals. Look at the maternity hospitals. Countless deputies, including myself, I know Crown Cole gave a topic this week on it, have asked the Taoiseach to turn it to the Minister of Health. Why is this going on? And yet, little independent groups of hospitals are refusing the right for a partner or a father or a sibling or anybody to be with a respected mother when they get good news or worse, when they get very bad news and sad news, miscarriages and anything else, or life-limiting conditions. So what is going on? I mean, that you can't even change that much. Are the righteous he is so out of control? Have an effort so much, so in control, the hands on the hands of the power that you can't challenge him? When I challenged Dr. Hooran, who had a meeting in Cabinet Buildings, it wasn't until I got rebuttal that he did with the lockdown and we did the science later. That's how we have been on a wing and a prayer. And our people have been perished. Our people have been destroyed. Family businesses, family people. What about the waiting lists for the cancer care, the misdiagnosis, the mental health, you name it, orthodontic treatment. Deputy Conley Alder refers to the absolute lack of respite. In any time ever you need a respite. What about all that and the way we denied the nursing homes PPE and we actually secunded oxygen that was going to nursing homes for the HSE. And all the people that died in those interests. Can I just appeal to you, Government. I prefer that you have the guts today to say, we're opposing this motion and we won't allow it. Because you're just playing a trick-hard trick on the people that you represent. They're telling you that you agree with the motion, but tonight you're going to be in this draconian, draconian, anti-constitutional bit of legislation that was ever brought into this house. It wouldn't be done in wartimes. It wouldn't be accepted in wartimes. So this is a war against the people. They're all people that we're supposed to sell. The people that put it up here in this Parliament. And can I just say, I'm appealing to you at this last minute to either vote against this motion, put your money where your mouth is, or else take away the motion, the bill tonight. Come back on Friday, come back next week and debate it properly. I just want to say it in our own language, words have been said. Words that have been attributed to me yesterday, and by members in the media, and got into a story that I uttered some words. One word starts with an A, and I never said those words anywhere in my life. I wouldn't even repeat the word here. Time is up, Deputy. Thank you. And I think it's very wrong of media outlets to put this into the story, to try and damage my credibility. But above all... Thank you, Deputy. Time is up. Yes, I appreciate that. But I want the record to be corrected by the teacher in this house as well, when he used that often. All right, thank you, please. It's not in my body to speak that word, and I wouldn't and didn't, and I hope that you might ask the... I'll be right into you, ask the teacher to withdraw that also. Deputy, please. Thank you very much for everybody who contributed, and thanks for your time. All right. Thank you very much.