Dáil to push through new laws in battle with Covid-19
■ Raft of legislation to be rushed through by Friday ■ Varadkar’s caretaker role could stall formation of Seanad ■ Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil government could be formed by next week
A ‘SUPER set’ of emergency legislation is being prepared by the Government to be rushed through the Dáil this week.
The legislation is set to give emergency powers to the Departments of Justice, Defence, Health, Housing and, possibly, Finance.
The laws to be introduced will be finalised on Wednesday evening, before they go to the Dáil on Thursday and are passed by the Seanad on Friday.
Enabling powers to prohibit movement of people and assembly could be introduced, but the Government has been waiting to see how people behave before deciding on the severity.
The Government is scrambling to force the legislation through in advance of the Seanad elections on Friday, as they received differing legal advice as to whether it will be possible to pass legislation in the absence of a new government being formed.
Government formation talks between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been stepped up, with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin saying the Seanad deadline will ‘concentrate the minds around the formation of a new government’.
A deal between the two parties was brokered weeks ago but was stifled by the Green Party pulling out of talks.
Yesterday evening, an email was sent to all sitting senators instructing them they ‘will be required’ to meet this week to deal with ‘legislation currently being drafted in response to the Covid-19 situation.
The House will be required to meet this week to deal with further legislation currently being drafted in response to the Covid-19 situation’.
While emergency legislation in the areas of Housing and Finance had been flagged last week, the measures in the other Departments have not.
In Housing, it is expected that Minister Eoghan Murphy will introduce a rent freeze for an initial three months and put a stay on all evictions. While in Finance, Minister Paschal Donohoe will introduce further supports to those who have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, similar to what has been introduced in the UK and Denmark, with the State compensating employees in the region of 75%80% of their previous income.
A Cabinet source involved in drafting the laws said last night: ‘What we do as a nation in the next few days will decide the course we go.’
The Minister was very unhappy with the behaviour of members of the public at the weekend. Images of people queuing closely together outside McDonald’s branches further pushed the Government towards the introduction of draconian laws.
‘We do not want to go the way of Italy. Italy’s problems are down to a number of issues. They have significant contacts with China due to the fashion trade, and there is a lot of travel. But they also seemed to have f **** d up their basic contact tracing at the start.
‘But 800 deaths on Saturday, 650 yesterday... this is a first world Western European country, a member state of European Union.’
A senior Government source said last night that if things don’t go well here this week, ‘we could have 10,000 cases by Sunday evening, 29th. And 2,000 a day after that, which brings us to the 15,000’.
‘But to be honest, if you’re in our position, you’re not looking at the amount of people who get it, for two million of us could get it and be grand.
‘It’s the number who end up in
ICU and sadly die. When we look back on this, when it is decided how Ireland will do will be factored on the number of deaths.’
A number of senators are said to
‘We could have 10,000 cases by Sunday’
be disgruntled about returning to Leinster House in the closing stages of an exhaustive campaign.
However, the Government has received contrasting legislation as to what will be possible after Friday’s Seanad elections.
Mr Varadkar has said he will not have the authority to appoint the Taoiseach’s 11 nominees to the Seanad in his capacity as caretaker Taoiseach resulting in a major legal question mark over how the Seanad can be legally formed.
Without clarity, any legislation subsequently passed through the Seanad, which has to happen for a Bill to become law, could be subject to legal challenge.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated he was unwilling to introduce stricter legislation around social distancing and public gathering, insisting that the country would follow the example set out by South Korea.
‘If they [National Public Health Emergency Team] recommend further restrictions, we will implement those further restrictions.
‘But you know, I should say that any decision [made] on further restrictions isn’t going to be made because of what’s trending on Twitter, or because of populism or political pressure.