David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of our witnesses and wish them the very best in their work over the next while as they battle with this virus and all of the other health issues that must be tackled.

I wish to begin with Mr. Woods. I do not know if he has read the submissions that the committee received from the healthcare trade unions who were present this morning. The INMO's submission was very extensive and in fact made a lot of good recommendations. One of the things that jumps out of their submission is the very high levels of front-line staff in this State, especially nurses, who contracted Covid-19. It seems to be very high in comparison to Europe and globally as well. Can Mr. Woods explain first of all why so many front-line workers in this State contracted Covid-19 in comparison to other states?