Senator John McGahon - speech from 26 Nov 2020
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Transcript
Okay, to go back to the subject matter, which isn't about the best opposition that was ever provided in the history of the state, I would like Minister to just come back to this, and the importance of it is, Minister, in relation to this topic, whenever we've had briefings on it, I find it's very important that I personally turn up to all briefings about topics like this, so that I'm well informed when I come in to debates about specific matters, Lasky-Hearlock, I'm able to discuss those specific matters, so that's what I'm doing here today, Minister. So, with all that to one side, to go back to what I was wanting to discuss, is in relation to retail, which has more or less been sorted this afternoon, Minister, but it's in relation to this company called C&D Tours in Derry, who last night proposed to take a busload of shoppers from Derry on a round trip of 452 kilometres to Dundrum Shopping Centre on the 5th of December, because, essentially, that the retail was closed in Northern Ireland, but it was opening in the south, so let's all go down here and do it. And the only point I would like to say, they've now subsequently put a thing on Facebook to say, oh sorry, we didn't realise we weren't looking at the restrictions to know this, but the only thing I'd say is that, were they living on the dark side of the moon for the last 12 months? Where have they been since February of this year, when they thought it would be acceptable to bust down a whole load of shoppers over 452 kilometres, round trip to Dublin to come back up? I think that seriously undermines the real efforts of trying to make both sides of the border. And to finish up, and in conclusion, when we talk about what is an all-Ireland approach to COVID, it works both ways. It's not just about people this side of the border having to make sacrifices, then people in Northern Ireland to think that they come 400 miles down the road to shop here. And perhaps if other people turned off to briefings, you know, they would know that too. Thank you.