The Taoiseach should be here today instead of at a press conference, given the decisions being made and the impact on our country. The Cabinet decision announced earlier on reopening businesses is absolutely bananas. It is discriminatory and it is unenforceable. It is shocking stuff. It is amateur hour. When did Government discrimination become the norm in Ireland? I would like the Minister to answer that.

The Government is saying to young people today that we are all in this together except when it gets to a stage where those of us who have been vaccinated want to get out and enjoy ourselves this summer. That is what we are really saying and that, by the way, we also want younger people to continue working to serve us in bars, restaurants, pubs and everywhere else because we need them to do so even though they are not vaccinated, and that public health covers this. It is shocking stuff.

The Government is saying I can get a meal down the street in a restaurant or go for a pint but my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, cannot do it. I would have to leave him outside the door. That is discrimination and it is wrong. In Ireland we do not practise discrimination and the Government should certainly not push it. That is effectively what it is doing. The Government will learn a big political lesson over the coming days and weeks. I will rephrase that: it will be over the coming seconds, minutes and hours regarding this decision. It will have to be rescinded because it is not practical, it is unenforceable and it is discriminatory.

The Government's plans will break social cohesion and divide the people of this country, including communities, families, employees and employers. It will put them into positions we never wanted. The Government will really have to look at this again. It is saying to young people it would be illegal for them to go down the road for a pint if they are not vaccinated and they cannot go for a meal in a restaurant. However, it is not illegal because of European law to go to Northern Ireland or get a flight to Spain and have as many meals or drinks as they want. Again, it is not practical but most of all, it is discriminatory.

The Government will have to look at this again immediately. Another Cabinet meeting should be called and it should consider another proposal. What is being proposed now is the following. The Government is saying to young people that we will go out and enjoy ourselves if we are vaccinated but we will not allow them to. We are essentially saying to the young people of Ireland that their summer will consist of sitting at home and watching "Love Island" because that is what we think of them.

We are no longer in this together.

I am sure that I do not need to tell the House that the only reason an Taoiseach is not here is because he is addressing the UN Security Council. It was a prearranged appointment on the issue of cybersecurity, which is of absolute critical importance to our health system and the hundreds of thousands of health workers who have been through a crisis they have had to manage. This is why the Taoiseach is not here.

He is accountable to this Dáil first and foremost, according to the Constitution.

He is, and we as a Government will be fully accountable to this Dáil. Included in that, we will make sure there is full access to the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, not just to the analysis but also to the individuals behind the analysis that was presented to us last night, so that Members can have an opportunity to ask the questions or test out what is a very worrying development and situation around this new Delta variant.

Let us be very clear. Let us not pre-empt the approach that is going to be taken. The Government is not responding to the modelling information presented last night by immediately jumping to a particular solution. We are saying that we want sit down with our stakeholders, with the unions and with the industry to look at options to provide better protection and to reopen the hospitality sector and other sectors that may be affected.

For young people, the decisions yesterday in terms of changing the vaccination rules was an important element in the mix. It was not all negative in terms of what was presented and what it may provide, subject to international vaccine supply coming in.

The Deputy depicts it all as having been decided. This latest modelling information was presented to us only last night. The appropriate approach was not to jump to a conclusion or to offer a solution immediately. It was to say that we now need to establish a plan that gives us a further, certain path to a reopening that will not see reopening and then closing again. This is what we as a people have done successfully in recent months: we have managed to reopen sections of our society, stage by stage, in a way that did not have to be reversed. That is the first thing our young people want, whether they are working in an establishment, are patrons of an establishment, are part of a family business, or are part of cultural, sporting or other events that could also be affected.

There is no discrimination behind the Government's intent, but we did have to listen to the analysis presented by the health officials. I could go back a number of months right through this crisis where Deputy Kelly's party was saying, in the most categoric terms, that we had to heed the public information advice. In Government, one does have to heed this. A range of modelling scenarios was presented to us. It is not all potentially unmanageable. It will be manageable. As a country we are good at managing this and we will do this. The way to do it is not to close your eyes, block your ears and say that none of the modelling exists. The way to do it is to consider the options, which we will do in the coming days.

That is not what the Taoiseach said in his press conference. I live in Portroe, where there is a little village called Garrykennedy. Roy Breen and Maura Boyle run the two hospitality establishments there. If the Minister thinks that what the Government is putting forward is enforceable in any of these types of hospitality premises, it is not. It is just not enforceable. It is discrimination. It is complete discrimination. I am telling the Minister right now that the reaction from people who are under the age of 30 is something I have never seen before. They are shocked that the Government has now decided to just jettison them while telling them they must continue working, even if they are not vaccinated.

The Government often challenges the Opposition to have other solutions. I am asking that this is revisited, to reverse that part of the decision. We have the Janssen vaccine that can be administered by pharmacists tomorrow morning. We have AstraZeneca vaccine that can go into the various centres around the State. In two weeks' time 50% of the population will have had the double vaccination and 70% will have had at least one shot. If we also use those other vaccines immediately we can get those figures to above 55% and above 75%. In two weeks' time, before 19 July, the Government could then look at the modelling again to reassess. That is what I believe is a compromise and what we should do, while also bearing in mind the public health advice.

What the Government is proposing is not possible. It is unenforceable, it is discriminatory and it is breaking social cohesion.

I wish for such certainty. I wish for it in the first instance in terms of vaccine supply. We are following the advice from the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, and we have changed the rules to allow our young people get access to vaccines much more quickly.

I am not making these figures up.

It is not certain yet. We will have to test in the coming days in the context of how we seek to set out the solutions and involve the industry and the unions. Deputy Kelly says that this will not work when the plan itself is what we have to devise and develop. We have to do that in a way that recognises our young people have suffered most during this crisis and are in need of greater support. The most urgent issue is getting them vaccinated and giving them a social life and opportunities to get back to normal, get back to work and get back to college. What we do not want are false promises whereby we say everything is fine and that the Delta variant does not exist, that is not a problem-----

I did not say that.

-----that we can ignore what NPHET says and that we are not worried about the modelling. If we did that, we would find ourselves in greater difficulties later in the summer.

I did not say that.

That is one of the possibilities if we were to ignore the advice that has been given. This is not what we are going to do.