Mr. John King:

We raised this matter extensively with the HSE and the relevant Department when this particular policy decision was taken. To understand the point we are trying to make, we have to go back to the context of what Covid was like in healthcare settings in February and March when we did not have the advanced levels of testing and so on that we have in place now. Staff in the health service, similar to staff in other sectors of the economy, require their total earnings to be able to survive. The point we were making in including this point in the submission was to draw attention to a policy that did not work because it served as a disincentive. It is not a question of determining how many cases there were or what was the prevalence. The fact is that it was a policy that did not work because it acted as a disincentive.