Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I could not agree with Dr. De Gascun more when he stated that we need to keep one eye on the future to ensure Ireland can learn lessons. Recent data are encouraging, but we must be wary of a possible resurgence of the virus.

South Korea endured SARS in 2002, influenza in 2009, MERS in 2015 and now Covid-19. The country, with ten times the population of Ireland, has had great success in suppressing the virus. Test, trace and isolate is the three-legged stool of South Korean health policy, as I am sure Dr. De Gascun is well aware. Have we reached an adequate level of testing and tracing here? Does he believe that the public is buying in? Public buy-in is crucial. As we have moved to phase 2 in recent days, it is now more essential than ever that public buy-in continues.