Paul Murphy: Warns against reopening hospitality, slams quarantine
Paul Murphy warned against reopening indoor hospitality and criticised the government's quarantine measures, saying they have led to unnecessary deaths and are ineffective. He argued for a zero Covid approach and for mandatory hotel quarantine for England, Scotland and Wales, saying the government ignored earlier warnings.
Reopening of hospitality and avoidable deaths
Murphy said the socialist left has been the only political force to consistently tell the truth about Covid, citing the November reopening of hospitality as an example. He blamed government deference to private business lobbying for a decision that he says cost over 2,000 unnecessary, fully avoidable deaths and said other opposition parties largely went along with the government's approach.
International examples and rising cases
He pointed to international trends, noting figures from the Netherlands showing a 500% increase in Covid cases in one week after reopening indoor hospitality. Murphy used that example to underline his view that reopening indoor hospitality is not safe and that similar patterns are appearing elsewhere.
Calls for zero Covid and mandatory hotel quarantine
Murphy reiterated support for a zero Covid approach based on socialist policies that put people first. He said he first raised the Delta variant crisis in the Dáil seven weeks earlier and urged mandatory hotel quarantine for England, Scotland and Wales, arguing that acting then would have prevented the current situation.
Critique of the government's quarantine plan
He criticised the government's mandatory hotel quarantine as ineffective, privatised, outsourced and not integrated into the public health system. Murphy argued it lacks democratic control and oversight by trade unionists, human rights activists and civil liberty activists, and described the response as a kind of "racist theatre" when quarantine does not properly include England, Scotland and Wales.
Consequences and warnings
Murphy warned that if the recommended policies had been implemented earlier, the country would not be facing the current crisis and the difficult choices now required. He said repeated decisions that put private profit first have led to preventable harm - including long Covid and extra unnecessary deaths - and that those truths must be told to the public.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thanks a lot. The socialist left is the only political force in Ireland which has consistently told the truth to people about Covid, that was epitomised by the discussion around the reopening of hospitality in November of last year, where the government bowed to the private business lobbying, reopened at the cost of over 2,000 unnecessary fully avoidable deaths. The rest of the opposition went along with that, and that was generally the approach in the course of the pandemic, to go along with the basic thrust of whatever the government is doing, whatever lobbying is taking place, and then maybe to pick this or that aspect to oppose some form of opposition. Same thing is happening right now. It is only us that are saying very clearly it is not safe to reopen indoor hospitality. That is not a truth. That is not a situation we want to be in, but it is the truth. You look at what is happening around the world, the figures today from the Netherlands, a 500% increase in Covid cases in one week, as a result of the reopening of indoor hospitality, or with that being a key cause. And what is very frustrating about that, from our point of view, is the fact that if the policies that we advocated, a zero Covid approach based on socialist policies that puts people's interests first, well then we wouldn't be in this situation at all. You know, we are faced with telling the truth to people about the difficult choices that need to be made as a result of bad decisions taken again and again and again that put private profit first, when we could be in a very different situation. And I want to be very, very concrete about that, it is not some abstract point, is that seven weeks ago we first raised in the Dáil that we have got a crisis on our hands in terms of the spread of the Delta variant in Britain and we need to do something to slow the spread. And we said, we need to bring in mandatory hotel quarantine for England, Scotland and Wales. If we had done that, seven weeks ago, six weeks ago, five weeks ago, even possibly four weeks ago, we would not be in the situation that we are in today. We wouldn't be in a situation where we have to say, it is not safe to open indoor hospitality. I warned the Taoiseach on the 16th of June, if the gamble not to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine does not pay off, we will be in a crisis and there will be negative consequences for people's health, and long Covid and there will be extra unnecessary deaths. And here we are precisely in that point. We are opposed to the government's mandatory hotel quarantine because it is ineffective, it is privatised and outsourced and it is not part of the public health system, it is not under democratic control and oversight of trade unionists, human rights activists, civil liberty activists and so on. In effect, without the effective mandatory hotel quarantine, which would include proper quarantine of England, Scotland and Wales, what we are left with is a kind of racist theatre to have the pretence of doing something when in reality we have plague island next door to us and Delta cases coming in freely and going and we wonder why we are in the situation that we are in. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
