Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Lawless. I pay tribute to all our health professionals, as I did during the earlier session with the witnesses from the HSE. It has been a very trying time during which the focus has been on protecting lives. We, as Members of the Oireachtas, have to be very careful that we put people's health and lives first. As we head into the cold and flu season, there is some confusion as to whether we are going into a second wave of Covid infections. The witnesses may have heard the discussion on the radio this morning where we were told that people are not aware that they can ring their doctor free of charge to get information about Covid symptoms and what they need to do if they have them.

I have been dealing with the concerns of local businesspeople over the past few months. The witnesses referred to the restrictions in counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly. I live in the Graiguecullen area of Carlow town, which is half in Carlow and half in Laois. Some businesses in the area have had to close, which was very hard given that we are so far away from the outbreaks in Laois. I spoke to the Minister about their situation and asked for a buffer to be applied. If something like this ever happens again, which I hope it never does, there must be better communication with the businesses and people affected. There are housing estates in Graiguecullen that are half in Carlow and half in Laois and there was huge confusion among the people living there. When information is given on these types of restrictions, there needs to be clarity on where exactly they apply and consideration should be given to a buffer zone.

My next question relates to testing. We saw last week that 13,000 tests were done in one day, which, months into the crisis, was the highest number of tests done in a single day. Are we going to see a ramping up of testing as the schools reopen? Recent infections seem to be happening in clusters, including in meat factories and direct provision centres. What is being done in regard to that pattern of infections? I have had several telephone calls from people asking about what testing is being done at airports, which is a huge concern for me. I am not aware of any definite cases but my understanding is that people coming in from red zone countries are not self-isolating for 14 days.

I am also concerned about whether we have enough personal protective equipment, PPE, particularly in view of the spike in cases and as schools and hospital services reopen. It is vital that we have adequate supplies of PPE for front-line service staff.

The most pressing question I have concerns wet pubs. Like all of us here, I have been contacted by owners of wet pubs who say they will be able to control their environment. Their businesses are the only ones that have not reopened and many of them do not know whether they will be allowed to open. In addition, there was huge confusion last week among owners of dance studios and theatres regarding the reduction in permitted indoor numbers from 15 to six. Several dance studio owners contacted me to say that this new restriction will see them lose their livelihood. I understand that the witnesses must put people's health first but where we are talking about a controlled environment in which the guidelines can be followed, why was the decision made not to open wet pubs and not to allow dance studios and other businesses to have 15 people instead of six?

Perhaps Dr. Glynn will respond to those questions. I realise there are a lot of them.