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Families should be given clarity on Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas, while the risk of continued economic and social damage from the lockdowns should be avoided, the meetings of the two most important government parties have heard.
As part of an extensive discussion on the Covid-19 strategy at the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, contributions were heard about the need for clarity on the restrictions that would be applied during Christmas, the sources said.
Cormac Devlin, TD Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown, said that, subject to public health advice, Level 2 should be introduced “with adjustments,” allowing people to travel home at Christmas, as well as indoor hospitality and religious services.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin told Dáil on Wednesday that he would like to return to Level 3 restrictions by December 1. “That was a goal,” he said.
John Lahart, the TD for Dublin South West, said at the party meeting that the Level 3 restrictions would demoralize people.
He also argued that some in the hospitality trade had not worked since March or the end of September, and that the prospect of these people heading to Christmas with paying the Covid subsidy alone was not something the government should “accept. easily”.
The meeting also heard that there should be as much support as possible for the hospitality and retail sectors during the Christmas period as it offered an opportunity for merchants to make up ground lost during the year.
Meanwhile, TDs and senators also warned that if the hospitality industry was not allowed to open around Christmas, there was an increased risk of house parties, which have been blamed for being a major infection factor before. of the reintroduction of stricter measures. The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting heard extensive contributions on the need to convey a message of hope to the public that the sacrifices they had made during the confinement would be worth it.
Earlier, the parliamentary party Fine Gael learned of the risk of economic and social damage caused by entering and leaving the confinements.
The party agreed to a motion Wednesday night to find time in the Dáil and Seanad to plan the lifting of Level 5, so that ideas “for this next phase of pandemic management” are heard “as soon as possible.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar spoke in favor of the motion, presented by former Minister of Housing Eoghan Murphy. It is understood that Murphy said at the meeting that the country could not keep going in and out of confinement.
The Dublin Bay South TD recently wrote an article for The Irish Times arguing that the National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG), a permanent body recently used to manage the State’s response to extreme weather events, could also be used to manage the response. to COVID-19.
The motion was seconded by Sean Kyne, and also seconded by Fine Gael Parliamentary Party Chairman Richard Bruton, as well as TD Bernard Durkan of Kildare North. It is understood that Mr. Bruton said at the meeting that the current lockdown period should be used to ensure that all tools are optimized once restrictions are lifted, in order to minimize the degree to which the most severe measures may have to be reintroduced.
Dublin Mid-West TD Emer Higgins also spoke in favor of the motion and asked that more information be made available to different industries so that they could better understand whether or not they should open at various stages of the state’s closure plan.
At the Fianna Fail meeting, Cavan-Monaghan TD Brendan Smith said that there should be an all-island dimension to dealing with Covid, and that it was necessary to have restrictions north and south of the border as similar as possible, while Cork North- Central TD Pádraig O’Sullivan raised the question of public worship.
The party’s leader, Mr. Varadkar, also warned the Fine Gael parliamentary party that they should not comment on the dispute between Supreme Court Justice Seamus Woulfe and Chief Justice Frank Clarke, who has told the former attorney general who should resign. .
The issue was also raised at the Fianna Fáil party meeting, where TD Marc MacSharry from Sligo-Leitrim told colleagues that he felt the issue was more the responsibility of the judiciary than of oireachtas. He said a process had been established with Susan Denham, after which he followed what he described as a “rather contradictory” letter from a high-ranking member of the judiciary expressing a personal opinion that differed from Denham’s report.
The Fianna Fáil meeting also heard from John McGuinness, TD of Carlow-Kilkenny, who called on the Government to secure capacity with shipping companies for road transport to the EU, while Fiona O’Loughlin, Jackie Cahill and Christopher O’Sullivan raised Brexit issues. in relation to the agricultural and food production industries.
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