We have seen some moments of chaos during the lifetime of the Government but yesterday was a new peak. The Taoiseach says the advice given to him by the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, came as a bolt out of the blue. That advice was not to reopen indoor hospitality and that when hospitality would be reopened, to make it available to vaccinated persons only. The Taoiseach says he was caught unawares by that.

That is an extraordinary situation given the Taoiseach heads the Government and it is incumbent on him to put in place plans and contingency measures in light of the very real danger posed by the Delta variant. However, the Taoiseach did not do that. Once again, he marched the hospitality sector to the top of the hill, only to march it back down again and he now pursues a plan which gives zero consideration to young people.

I ask the Taoiseach to consider the situation of a 19-year-old, a 25-year-old or a 30-year-old in Ireland this morning. Many of them have held and hold the line on the front line, while working in retail and in schools and hospitals. Others have lost jobs. Many have not seen a day's work in a year and a half. Others had their time at college but they were not on campus; they were in their bedrooms. All have had their opportunities to travel severely curtailed, taken from them at that time of their lives when it is natural to wish to explore the world. Tógadh gach rud ó dhaoine óga, fágadh ar leataobh iad le linn na paindéime seo agus níl sé seo maith go leor.

On top of all the pandemic disruption, consider their prospects for an affordable or a secure home. They can forget about that on the Taoiseach's watch. If they are relying on the PUP because their job disappeared, it is going to be slashed. If they find themselves on jobseeker's allowance, the message to young people is they are less deserving than people who are older than them. We now find ourselves in the summer months, after an extraordinary year and in a time when our young people deserve a break. It is perfectly legitimate for young people to want to socialise together and meet up with their friends. They were told they would have an outdoor summer and to prepare for that, and they did. They socialise outdoors and most behave themselves perfectly well. A small element, not all of whom are young people by the way, misbehaves yet all young people are then treated as a nuisance, a threat and a problem. They are told essentially to get off the streets and wait for the pubs to reopen.

Yesterday, the Government told young people they can work in pubs and restaurants and serve their elders but they should forget about having a drink after work in the same establishment or a meal in the establishment next door. The Taoiseach cannot do that. The time has come to stop paying lip service to young people and to listen to them and meet their needs. I am asking the Taoiseach to give young people a chance to benefit from the reopening of our society and from the very hard work they have invested in protecting everyone else in society. In other words, I am asking the Taoiseach to treat young people fairly.

So far, the Government has disregarded the obvious solutions in this regard. We have talked about antigen testing for what seems like forever, yet the Government stubbornly refuses to pursue widespread antigen testing. People now ask why Ireland is the last place in Europe where people cannot eat or drink indoors. The answer is that elsewhere antigen testing is being used. We need to get our young people vaccinated. We need to ensure people in the 60 to 69 age group get their second vaccine and that happens quickly. We still have no clarity as to when the changes to the vaccine programme, which are woefully late, will take effect. The Government is only now engaging with the hospitality industry. It is truly a mess. This must be sorted and the Government must now deliver a plan of action that is fair to the hospitality industry but also to the younger generation.

I agree with the Deputy's fundamental assertions. I regret the fact that since this Government was formed, she has been so divisive in her approach to Covid-19. She has always sought to use it as an avenue to exploit for political gain. My more important point is this. Everyone in the House should take on board that the Delta variant is a serious and challenging issue, and will be across Europe. The advice from NPHET is to that effect. Whether we like it or not, the Delta variant is far more transmissible and creates risks. That is the essence of the advice that was presented to us by NPHET and of the modelling that was also presented to us, which was stark with respect to case numbers, hospitalisations, ICU occupancy and deaths for July, August and September. I ask that Deputy McDonald take that on board and accept it.

Is is Deputy McDonald's view that we should have pressed ahead with the opening of hospitality on 5 July given the warnings and projections we got about the impact of the Delta variant? I would like her to answer that question openly and honestly because this is a key point. The Government's decision yesterday was not to proceed. That is the fundamental decision we took. We decided to delay proceeding on 5 July and engage with the hospitality industry. Covid has been devastating for the hospitality industry. I know that. It has been devastating for travel and tourism since the very beginning, not just here but around the world. The impact of Covid has been devastating for many societies.

I spoke yesterday with Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, and she used a very telling phrase. She said Delta will rip through an unvaccinated population. Scotland has all its eggs in the vaccination basket, with 60% of the population fully vaccinated. There are some hopeful signs that there may be a breaking of the link between case numbers and hospitalisations but that is not certain yet and will take more monitoring.

The Deputy used the word "chaos" and the word "mess" gets mentioned. If one looks back over the last number of months, we have reopened society steadily, successfully and effectively, in terms of schools, childcare, sport for young people, construction, outdoor hospitality, personal services and retail. That is not chaotic. It has not been a mess. It has been steady, progressive and wise, and it has produced results. The decision yesterday is to protect all that. That is my only motivation and the only motivation of the Government is to protect that and protect people, not divide people and society. We want to protect society.

I understand how difficult Covid has been for young people. I know that. It has affected their college life and work. That is why the pandemic unemployment payment was brought in for students in the first instance. The threshold that has been set in respect of vaccination for hospitality is a very high one that will prove very challenging. We want to engage with industry because we understand how difficult it has been for the sector and for young people. The Government does not take decisions on the immunisation strategy. The NIAC decision will help us accelerate vaccination and that is a good thing.

The aggressive transmissibility of the Delta variant and the danger it poses were not new to the Taoiseach yesterday. The Government has known about that for a considerable time, as has NPHET. How is it that we are at lastminute.com again, with eleventh hour decision-making again? As I said, the Government is marching this sector up the hill only to march it back down, again? It is divisive to single out young people who do not have the opportunity to avail of vaccination and tell them they can work in the hospitality sector but they cannot avail of it. That is wrong and divisive.

The Taoiseach asked me what should happen. The sector should be reopened, and safely. A clear plan for that should be set out. We should have a Government that is not announcing days beforehand that this will not, in fact, happen. When will young people be vaccinated? What is the timetable for that? What of antigen and PCR testing? How will the Government deploy these measures to ensure that when the sector is reopened everybody, including the young, who run these services to an enormous extent, can also avail of them? The Taoiseach should answer that. He is, after all, the Taoiseach.

I asked the Deputy a question which she did not answer. The modelling from NPHET was new and stark in its scale with respect to the number of cases predicted through different scenarios, namely, optimistic, central 1, central 2 and pessimistic. However, I asked the Deputy a straight question and she did not answer me. Should we have proceeded? Should we have ignored the modelling and advice? I recall what Deputy McDonald said at Christmastime. Subsequently, she was in favour of massive suppression of the virus. She changes every time. It is regrettable because she seeks to exploit it for political and electoral advantage. That seems to be her only motivation when it comes to Covid-19 and that is very regrettable. I am asking her what she would do if presented with that modelling by NPHET. No one likes the message. I do not like the message.

The Opposition has been presented with nothing.

Through the Chair, nobody likes to be told------

The Government does not brief people because it is chaotic.

The Opposition has been presented with nothing because the Taoiseach does not agree that his Government's actions are chaotic.

There is an element here of turning on NPHET or its modelling. The results of the modelling are not something we all welcome. It is difficult and challenging. Therefore, I think we did the right thing to pause and delay the reopening of hospitality in light of the stark advice. Surely we have learned something from the past year and a half about this pandemic. I never underestimate this pandemic.