Deputy Michéal Martin - speech from 16 Apr 2020

Our first thoughts must be with the families who have lost loved ones during this emergency and in addition the inability of their friends and communities to participate with them in acknowledging and celebrating the lives of their loved ones is a particularly added burden that they have to bear yesterday's figures are a reminder that Ireland has succeeded in substantially reducing the potential spread of the virus but that it is still spreading and it is still causing immense damage. We continue to rely on the incredible work of health professionals and support staff in every community throughout our country. I want to extend our best wishes to Deputy MacDonald. The unacceptably long wait for test results which she experienced must have been almost unbearable for herself and her family and I hope that she will be well enough to return here in the coming weeks. I also welcome Deputy Kelly here in his capacity as leader of the Labour Party. I have already congratulated him on his success and I also pay tribute to Deputy Brendan Howland who is a long established record of genuine committed public service to the country and a great parliamentarian as well. In the short time available to us in this session I would like to focus on a number of the major issues which have arisen in the last fortnight concerning both the current policies and future planning. Before I do this I want to put on record the strong view of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party that Parliament continues to have a role to play and that democratic accountability is not just legitimated it is essential at a time when we all have agreed to give such strong powers and support to government and state bodies. Particularly given the difficulty which some journalists have experienced in getting direct and timely answers to legitimate questions we should agree before next week a system for greater parliamentary oversight. This must not interfere with the response or put staff in harm's way but there are Parliaments in many places which have found other ways of working. In the over half a century that academics have been studying crisis response as a separate discipline the single most consistent finding has been that the public can be trusted with the full truth. In fact it is when the public loses confidence that it has been kept fully informed that unease and the refusal to follow advice is most likely to grow. That is why I believe in full transparency around where the outbreaks are happening, where the clusters are happening and we can see that in our nursing homes. The research in relation to public health emergencies in particular is absolutely consistent on this as it is on the need for challenging voices to be respected and to be open and transparent in acknowledging weaknesses. Any response to an unprecedented and rapidly moving emergency will always involve errors. What matters is to look for them and deal with them. And when this is eventually over a systematic approach to learning from mistakes or oversights will be central to making sure that we can respond even faster and more effectively to future crises. We all know that the situation in nursing homes is now at the forefront of the spread of the virus and a large number of virus linked deaths. During today we will be seeking greater clarity on a number of essential points. Unfortunately I have to report to the House that I know of at least one case where relatives of a person in a nursing home has been informed that the nursing home has been told by the department that it should not give out information about the number of cases in the home. This information will come out anyway and it would be much better to help the nursing homes through showing them how to communicate the information and what reassurances families need that their loved ones are being protected as much as possible. Clearly Ireland is not ready to begin reversing the main restrictions introduced in the last month. But we are certainly in a position where we should outline the key decision points and how the process of lifting restrictions will be implemented. Many countries have done this in the past week and as the Taoiseach said we can learn lessons from how their situation evolves but I think it is a sensible approach to providing structure to a debate which could otherwise involve poor decision making. For Ireland to open up we must permanently address the critical issue of the capacity to rapidly test people both for the virus and ultimately for antibodies. Only when we can actually achieve significant community testing will we understand the level and impact of the virus here. We want to hear from government about the concrete steps which are planned to get Ireland to a place where more people are being tested, results are returned much faster and new cases are rapidly traced. This is the absolutely essential foundation for having confidence in lifting restrictions. Full transparency is required. The particular burden borne by our health and care professionals and support staff has been simply incredible and again the manifestation of the degree to which they put themselves in harm's way was reflected in two deaths in Kilkenny over the last number of days. We want to hear in concrete terms exactly what the current assessment is about basic personal protection equipment. The Irish people have shown time and again that they are committed to doing everything possible to control the virus and to help our country get through this terrible period. It is our job here to make sure that they have all of the information they need to understand what is happening and what is to be done. Transparency and accountable are more important than ever and hopefully today's session will be held in this spirit. Thank you. I'll see you next time.