Mr. Phelim Quinn:

It is my belief the specific decision taken on 10 March was taken on the basis of the disease profile in Ireland at that particular time and the associated public health advice. We in HIQA are not public health experts and we followed and accepted the public health advice at that particular time. I appreciate the public health advice changed two days later when the disease profile also started to escalate in the country. At that point, NPHET decided to restrict visiting.