Professor Patricia Kearney:

We started with the question: where do we go from here? We need a clear strategy now. I agree that it needs to be evidence based. I agree that we need to engage and debate this in public and come up with something that the Irish people trust, and that we can work together. I hear absolutely that there is a risk that people become angry and frustrated and that is not helpful. I agree that it is really important that our health service and our economy continue to function and they cannot only be about Covid. The reality is that if we move towards an elimination strategy, that will allow us, for example, to get back on board with matters such as our screening services.

I started today by talking about Covid being a serious and scary disease. I chose those words very carefully because part of the problem and the challenge we face with Covid is that scariness of it and the other impacts that it is having in what we have just heard from Professor Heneghan in terms of people not engaging with our health services. That is why it is important that we have clarity and leadership about how we approach this. That is, I suppose, back to the point of elimination.