Regarding the announcement on indoor dining, the idea that only people who are vaccinated will be allowed to avail of indoor dining and hospitality, but we will have young workers who are not vaccinated serving them, is absolutely nonsensical. The Government needs to address that issue. Under no circumstances should workers who are not vaccinated be told they must work in an environment we are told is unsafe for people who are not vaccinated and also told they cannot have a drink or a meal in the very same sorts of places. That makes no sense whatsoever. While the whole issue needs to be debated properly in the Dáil early this week, and should have been debated already, one thing the Government really needs to address is the question of the vaccination of workers who will be going into these environments-----

The Deputy's time is up.

-----and what we can do to ramp up the vaccination programme for them.

Through long stages of this crisis, the Deputy's party has had a consistent position in asking us to heed the public health advice and make sure we apply it. As I said earlier, the Deputy will have a chance to put such questions to our health officials. They recommended that we follow an approach that uses a whole range of different measures, not just vaccination but also use of personal protective equipment, PPE, distancing and other mechanisms. They argued that what we are proposing is safe and can be done properly, in a way that protects workers and customers. That advice is something we will have to put into action in the plan that will be devised to manage this. It is being done on the basis of that proper health advice. The Deputy and others will have a chance to question the health authorities on how it will work before any plan is put into place.

Ireland is alone now in Europe in the banning of indoor dining and drinking. Pubs and restaurants here have been closed longer than in any other European country. Tens of thousands of hospitality workers are out of work at the moment and being pushed into poverty. Many businesses are operating in a zombie state, surviving on Government supports. Young people are now being threatened with a two-tier citizenship, whereby civil rights will be for some but not for others. Then we have the ongoing problem with regard to antigen testing. It looks to many people that the Government has outsourced these decisions to a third party. Who knew that the idea of a revolving Taoiseach would one day include the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, of this State? What analysis has the Government done on the figures given by the NPHET? Finally, if the Government is alone in Europe in banning indoor dining, why is such activity more dangerous in Irish pubs and restaurants than it is in every other European country?

This is a changing situation and, as I said earlier, it is not certain. No one knows exactly what course the virus will take but it is likely, based on the evidence we were shown last night, that there will be a similar concern in other European countries about a rise in the Delta variant. How they manage that will vary from country to country. I understand the Lisbon Government has, in response to the recent increase in Delta variant numbers in Portugal, reintroduced restrictions. That is what we do not want to do. We do not want to give to businesses or young people, particularly those going to work in any business, false promise that they should come off the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and go into a job and then it is gone the following week as the numbers rise.

Is it better to stay indoors and be afraid it may rain or walk outside because it may not rain in the future?

The Minister must be allowed to answer without interruption.

It is better for us to manage this in the way we have been successfully doing, whereby we have opened up our schools, personal services, sports events and a whole range of different workplaces, and we have kept them open.

The Minister's time is up.

That is what we are going to continue to do, including the opening of hospitality this summer. We just want to do it in a way that does not see it going backwards afterwards.