Mr. Eddie Wilson:

It is about striking a balance. The balance must be between how we have a functioning economy and how we address the health concerns and stop the spread of this disease. They are not mutually exclusive. They have to come together, otherwise we will not have a functioning economy. A small open economy like ours will have to connect with other countries. Germany is doing exactly what the World Health Organization said countries should do, namely, call out when they have clusters and deal with them. Germany has dealt with the same difficulties we have had in this country in slaughterhouses and meat plants, although not necessarily to the extent we have had with regard to care homes. There will be clusters but it is about how one responds to that. One cannot take a blanket approach that says that we are different in Ireland. I come back to this. We keep saying we are different. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is the official arm of the EU in the context of the spread of pandemics, has the same standing as the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and the European Environment Agency but for some reason, this country says that is not good enough for us. It is good enough for the other EU 26, which have land borders with one another, so the Deputy's comment about Germany bears no relevance to the argument he is making.