Dr. Kevin Kelleher:

It is because the evidence is not as clear as people might think. Some people make out that it is clear; others do not. I am sure that the other witnesses in the room would agree that it is important that we have a multifactorial approach to this. Masks are not a magic bullet. They have to be part of an overall approach, which includes social distancing.

For the public the advice is still that social distancing and respiratory and hand hygiene are the fundamentals. That is what got us through the past four or five months. Wearing masks adds to that, but they are not a magic bullet. General infection prevention and control measures, specifically in healthcare settings and more generally in public settings, are very important messages. They are the things that will keep us going. We need to get people to remember that they still need to socially distance, have respiratory etiquette, ensure they practise hand and environmental hygiene and, as we have said, that they should self-isolate if they have symptoms. That is very important.

I am not denigrating masks. Rather, I am saying that people should not see them as a magic bullet. The real issue is very much that we need to keep up the other messages because the Irish people took them on board very well and that had a major impact.