Dr. Kevin Kelleher:

It is an important issue. We only have a very short period of time and this is likely to be a very long answer. The Deputy has to understand testing in these circumstances. The test we use only tells us that the person is positive or not detected at that moment in time. It does not mean the person is negative for the next week. The person could be tested the next day and be positive at that point. A test is not the answer. The answer is about how we take on board the whole process. We have given advice from the very beginning of this process around this area. Our first advice was put up on our HPSC website in early March. It was revised in April. It states very clearly how to deal with this issue, both in terms of trying to prevent it and when there are outbreaks. There is further advice on our website about dealing with outbreaks. The committee has heard some of those details. We have sought to put in, where necessary, additional staff like the infection protection control nurse, having a community worker on sites on a daily basis and things of that nature.

We seek to work with our colleagues in the Department of Justice and Equality to try to reduce the burden of people with Covid in these facilities as much as possible but it is difficult because of the circumstances. Along with them, we are trying to put in place systems that do that. They are basically the same things we ask everybody in the country to do. It is not that different at all. It is about good hygiene, good respiratory etiquette and social distancing.