Mr. Jim Breslin:

I am happy to kick off. I thank the Deputy for the congratulations. What we have been engaged in is providing advice on an overall framework. All of the progress made has been made by the Irish people. There is no one actor in this. There has been cross-party support for it. Every sector has given support to it but, ultimately, it is down to the behaviour change that we have made and that we will have to sustain into the future.

In regard to nursing homes, undoubtedly, anybody who has observed, as I have, nursing homes over an extended period will have seen the development of that sector. The Deputy mentioned the regulation of the sector by HIQA and the introduction of new standards and infection control guidance, which are particularly relevant in this situation. We have infection control standards in place. I believe the current version of the standards is from 2018.

That would be very consciously part of the responsibilities of the people in charge of those nursing homes, whether these are private or public. HIQA plays a very important role in reinforcing that responsibility. It has done so throughout the Covid-19 crisis. It is currently engaged in an assessment process on Covid-19. However, right from the start HIQA reached out and issued guidance and notices to providers about their responsibilities.

That is not to say that this is easy. The CMO can talk on that but this is a much more infectious virus than the typical flu that we experience and is much more severe in its impact and yet it is hard to keep flu out of a nursing home during the winter period.

Much work has gone into this sector. I will not say that all of it has been perfectly executed nor will I say that there has not been learning in this. There has been a great deal of learning. The CMO has talked about the fact that the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, have updated their guidance on this. There is no doubt that this is and continues to be an absolute focus of the overall public health effort as is the importance of ensuring that everybody who is running a nursing home is very clear on what his or her responsibilities are, on what good practice is, and has the support to do that in every instance. That will be to the fore as to how we continue to manage the virus.