Danny Healy-Rae condemns 'two-tier' society in hospitality rules
Danny Healy-Rae criticised the minister's handling of proposals to restrict indoor hospitality by vaccination status, saying the minister has "lost all credibility" and arguing the rules would create an unfair two-tier society. He supported a sunset clause and urged opening venues to everyone to avoid excluding young people and the medically exempt.
Central criticism
Danny Healy-Rae told the minister he had lost credibility after comments by Tony Hoonan and accused officials of making policy up as they go along. He described the proposed restrictions as undemocratic and unfair and said he could not vote for measures that create division.
Impact on young people and medically exempt
He warned the measures would disproportionately affect young people who have not yet been able to get vaccinated and those advised by their GPs not to take the vaccine. He recounted constituents who feared being kept apart from family and said youngsters would not forget being excluded from social life.
Support for a sunset clause
He explicitly backed the amendment on a sunset clause, arguing it was necessary to avoid a lasting two-tier society. He urged the minister to "hop on and do the right thing" by opening indoor hospitality to everyone rather than maintaining strict vaccine-based exclusions.
Hospitality sector and cross-border consequences
He challenged the lack of trust in publicans and small restaurant owners, naming local operators and family businesses handed down generations. He said people were booking weekend stays across the border because of local restrictions, and warned the measures were robbing people of what remains of the summer.
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Minister, you have lost, following what Tony Hoonan has said this evening, you have lost all credibility. I mean, you have given different reasons for bringing this bill, but what he said was that he did not advise, or he was not advising that under 18 should be left in hospitality, indoor hospitality, that tells me that he only make it up as he goes along. And what is sad about all this, and I support the amendment in relation to the sunset clause, is that who is going to be affected in this is, first of all, the young people that haven't or couldn't get the vaccine or available yet. They are doing everything possible, as we are talking here inside, and as we were talking here earlier today, to try to get vaccinated, so that they wouldn't be left outside. And we know what they have suffered. And everyone says, Minister, that it is the young that suffered, and the very old, that suffered the most during the virus. And I agree with that, because our youngsters did behave so well, all during the time that they weren't supposed to do this and do that. They were very well. And you know, if you regard youngsters, Minister, you know that, you should know it anyway, they will never forget. And they will never forget this, creating a two-tier society. And it's undemocratic, and it's unfair, and I can't stand for that, or vote for that. And you have to realise that there are people out there, Minister, that couldn't for medical reasons, for their own medical reasons, couldn't avail of the vaccine under their own GPs and medical advice. They were advised against taking the vaccine. They would have liked to take it like everyone else, but they were advised not to. And they had to go by their own medical advice. Thus, they can come into indoor hospitality now, into the pub with their husband, or into the restaurant with their other family members. If they are vaccinated, they are going to have to be left outside. And one woman on the phone today was very critical and asked me the question, was I going to vote to keep her apart from her family? And there have been others as well. Minister, at this late stage, I am asking you to to hop on and do the right thing and open it up for everyone. I mean, it's clear that he'll just make it up as he go along. He was supposed to, it's like a lifetime ago, that we were supposed to be open for the 5th of July. And when he came to the few days before it, he didn't realize this and he didn't realize that, and he would keep his clothes a lot longer. And there he formulated this poorly, such a poor attempt of opening up. And why don't you trust the publicans? Why don't you trust the people that run the small restaurants and indoor cafes? Why don't you trust those people? They can keep people apart. And they can do, like they've always done, run their business as well, in Killarney and the rural places around Kerry, like Gineve Gillen, Scotty Glyn, and Ratboar, and Cremann, and all those places. Fieries, horror. I think of all those grand people that provided a service back over the years, generations handed down from one to the other, maybe sometimes five generations, going back five generations, and that he won't trust him to open up, like all the other sectors of society. And do think about the north of Ireland, it's only an hour and a half up the road from here. And I mean, all of South Kerry and Kerry are booking rooms and going up to the north of Ireland for weekends, to such an extent that we couldn't get rooms for people that are going up to get their Catholics removed in two weeks' time or less. I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous, Minister, or whatever yet. Why are they trying to hold a grip on the people? Why don't you just be fair about it? This two-tiered society and leave in some and keep out more. Look, Laskan Corle, there are others that want to talk, but this is totally and absolutely ridiculous. Creating a division in our society and leaving people at home and not leaving them to have a small bit of our social life for the rest of what's left of the summer. I mean, the half has gone out of the summer already.
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