Paul Murphy criticises Government's mandatory hotel quarantine plan
Paul Murphy spoke in the Dáil about proposals to give the Minister power to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine and urged democratic accountability through amendments. He supported amendments adding oversight and said he opposed the Bill because it grants significant powers without required Dáil scrutiny.
Support for amendments
Paul Murphy said he backed amendments that would add a modicum of democratic accountability to the significant power being given to the Minister. He framed the changes as necessary to ensure oversight when compulsory quarantine is considered.
Experience of past hotel quarantine measures
He recalled favouring mandatory hotel quarantine at a certain point, but only as part of a public health system with proper oversight. He criticised how the Government previously implemented hotel quarantine - partially targeting specific countries, outsourcing en masse to private corporations, and not using health service staff.
Civil liberties and human rights concerns
He warned that the Government's earlier approach failed to take account of serious civil liberties and human rights issues. He said that is why independent oversight and Dáil return provisions are important to prevent rights being contravened.
Omicron, targeting and Fortress Europe
Speaking in the context of the Omicron variant, he noted Omicron had been detected in 26 countries and only three were in Africa, with the UK having the second highest number of detected cases. He suggested the proposed powers risk being used as theatre - potentially racist theatre - and invoked concerns about how such measures fit within broader Fortress Europe policies.
Opposition to the Bill without Dáil oversight
Because the Government seeks the capacity to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine without returning to the Dáil, he said that was a real problem and explained his opposition to the Bill. He argued the measure risks being used to appear to act while not addressing the underlying issues.
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Thanks, Cairn Comhairle. I just want to speak briefly in support of all of these amendments, which add a modicum of democratic accountability to the very significant power which is being given to the Minister. I would also just make the point that obviously we favoured mandatory hotel quarantine at a certain point in time. We called for mandatory hotel quarantine to be introduced across the board as part of a public health system, not to be outsourced, and for appropriate oversight to exist to ensure that people's civil liberties and human rights weren't being contravened. But we have now had the experience of how the Government did their version of mandatory hotel quarantine. They did it in a partial way, where particular countries were targeted and others were not. They did it in a way that it was outsourced en masse to private corporations. They did it not as part of a public health system. It wasn't health service staff and so on that were involved in it. And they did it without taking account of the very serious issues that are raised here in terms of civil liberties and so on. And so here we are again and the Government has come back and said, well, now we want the capacity to bring in mandatory hotel quarantine. We want to do it without having to come back to the Dáil as is correctly proposed in terms of these amendments. And that is a real problem for us and we are opposed, therefore, to the Bill. And especially now in this concrete situation, what is the purpose of this going to be? And I think it is very hard to avoid the conclusion that it is going to be the Government engaging in theatre, potentially racist theatre, saying that we are doing something about this problem. Obviously this discussion is arising in the context of the Omicron variant and all of the talk about Southern Africa and so on. But Omicron has been detected in 26 countries as of yesterday. I think we are probably, it could be up to 27 by now. Only three of those countries are in Africa and the UK has the second highest number of detected Omicron cases in the world. The Government is not going to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine for the UK. And therefore it illustrates the point that the way in which this is going to be used, and you have to see it in the context of Fortress Europe policies and so on, it is extremely troublesome in terms of the amount of power that is given and the way that it will be used to try and pretend that we are doing something when actually we are not addressing the issues here. Thanks.
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