Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a simple example, I have had to take three breaks from wearing my mask to have some water. I totally respect what Ms Ní Sheaghdha is saying. I will deliberately put policy aside as I come to Ms Murphy. I am last with questions, and that is why I have left what I want to say until the end of this session.

The committee has had 16 public sessions and it is my understanding and that of the secretariat that Ms Murphy is the first person to come before the committee who has survived and recovered from Covid-19. It is remarkable that it has taken this long for us to speak to somebody who has had Covid-19. I thank her for coming before the committee. I do not want to ask her overly personal questions about her experience of the illness, but I recognise that her colleagues, including people she knows well, have had similar experiences.

For the benefit of the committee, the record of the House and those who may be watching and thinking about their movements and interactions with other people, I ask Ms Murphy to give us a sense of her general experience, and that of her colleagues to whom she has spoken, of having the illness.