A TD has told the Dáil that “we are witnessing the end of democracy as we know it,” and claims that the government is “talking about restricting essential freedoms forever.”
The comments were made by Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara in the Dáil this week during a debate on the government’s extension of emergency Covid powers.
Michael McNamara questions what exactly the end point is for restrictions.
"Are we going to impose these restrictions until we reach the end of liberal democracy as we know it?" pic.twitter.com/fUQGjF37kY
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 4, 2021
“I do not know of any immunologist or serious academic on the issue of Covid-19 who says it will end,” the Deputy said.
“Safety is always relative and complete safety is impossible to attain. Increasingly, people have elected governments to keep them safe and governments have taken more and more powers to keep people safe. Yet, unfortunately, safety is unattainable.
“Again I ask when is the end? Are we talking about the end of Covid? If we are, I fear we are deluding ourselves. If we are talking about locking down and restricting essential freedoms until the end of Covid, we are talking about restricting them forever, because nobody suggests Covid will come to an end. Will we impose these restrictions until we reach the end of liberal democracy as we know it?”
The Deputy went on to state that he believed we are “witnessing the end of democracy as we know it.”
“I am not just talking about Ireland,” he said.
“The Minister has left for, I am sure, good reason but, in fact, some of our restrictions look mild compared with what we see on the television screens from Australia, in particular, and many other countries.
“We are, in my view, witnessing the end of liberal democracy or even democracy as we know it. Democracy is more than a tyranny of the majority. It is the ability to question regulations and laws, to ask the basis for them and to probe whether the underlying assumptions are correct.
“We have not had that because those who effectively determine what we should do are not amenable to this Dáil because they are not Members of it and do not have a duty to come before it.”
He added that public health advice has focused on only one thing – the suppression of Covid-19.
“I am not saying economic rights or the economy are more important but our healthcare system is dependent upon an economy to function,” he said.