Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his Department for their excellent presentation. As the Minister knows, many Irish people are concerned about the high risk of the Ebola virus spreading globally. He answered many of my questions in his presentation. I welcome the fact that the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has issued guidelines to hospitals and general practitioners, GPs, but were they issued to all hospitals and GPs? Cases might present anywhere.

What extra surveillance has been put in place at ports and airports? Do we have qualified personnel? If someone presents, what is the protocol? Many families in Ireland have relatives in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Are these families being monitored or have they been contacted? Has any of them been on holidays in the last three to four weeks or is any out there currently?

This morning, the Minister stated that no one in Ireland had Ebola, but I also heard on my local radio station of a suspected case in my county. I want to stop the scaremongering.