The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has told Newstalk they are “deeply concerned” about plans to prevent unvaccinated people from dining indoors.
The introduction of Digital COVID Certs for indoor dining and hospitality is the first step towards “health-based discrimination” according to Executive Director of the ICCL Liam Herrick.
“The Government is going down the road of introducing a system of health-based discrimination and it is not at all clear what the benefit it is hoping to achieve will be,” he told Newstalk Breakfast yesterday.
“I think we really have to be concerned about how long this is going to be in place because originally the Government was saying we are just trying to bridge the gap until a critical mass is vaccinated.
“In terms of sunset clauses, the public has no reason to have confidence in the Government in terms of their treatment of sunset clauses over the last year and a half.”
The legislation can be extended after October 9th, with Herrick also concerned that the vaccine passes could be rolled out in other settings.
“Already last night the Tánaiste was talking about having concern about children not being vaccinated in the autumn and this not just being about pubs and restaurants but being extended to other indoor environments as well.
“I think this is a mistake, I think this is the thin end of the wedge in terms of introducing health surveillance as a discrimination tool and I don’t think it is sound from a public health perspective.”
Herrick, who said there could be issues around data protection in regards to the new measures, claimed the government has been “cynical” in its portrayal of the options available to the public.
“The Government is trying to suggest to the opposition and the public that you can only take their option or no option and I think that is very cynical,” he claimed.
“The Oireachtas has a job to do to scrutinise legislation to consider Constitutional and human rights concerns and we very much hope that it plays that role and properly scrutinises this legislation.”
In a follow-up statement, the ICCL said there had been numerous examples of government introducing ill-advised and poorly thought-out legislation in dealing with Covid-19, and that the new bill would “write discrimination into law.”
“Originally, Government had implied the vaccine passports system would be a stopgap measure until a critical mass of the adult population were vaccinated. But already it is making references to extending this system into other indoor sectors, and potentially retaining the system as long as children remain unvaccinated,” the statement read.
“The system is also likely to be unworkable. Are publicans and restaurateurs really going to ask customers and friends for private health data in order to refuse entry? Forgeries will be likely. Where an unworkable and unenforceable piece of legislation is introduced, it makes a mockery of our legal system.”