James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I also thank Dr. Glynn for the attention he has given to Kildare. We have had a few conference calls in the past few weeks.

Of course, Professor Philip Nolan is well known to me as president of the local university.

I represent Kildare, which is in its third lockdown, given the initial lockdown, the localised lockdown and now the second localised lockdown. That has had a devastating effect on the local economy but also on the public at large. Confidence and morale is at a significant low at the moment as people try to grapple with the effects of this, and it is psychological as well as economic. People are prepared to get on with it and to do with the right thing once they can understand it, buy into it and support it.

I have listened to the testimony of both witnesses and they have both spoken about the importance of the workplaces and the clusters that have emerged in recent weeks. One of the questions that I, as a public representative in the county, have been asked repeatedly and will be asked again this evening when I meet with the Kilcock business association, given Kilcock has had just one case in two months, is why the entire county is in lockdown when it appears to be confined to a few workplaces. I have asked this question of many people, including the acting CMO at a conference call last week, and on many other occasions during the last few weeks. The answer I was given, which I believe because I believe the public health advice, is that the entire county has incidences, there are cases everywhere and it has spread beyond those initial workplaces or clusters. However, we really need to demonstrate that to drive buy-in and get public support and acceptance for the measures. People will follow the logic and follow the evidence for themselves if they have it.

We need to make that data available. This is something I have called for, as did the Taoiseach in yesterday's radio interview when he agreed it should be made available. We should make available microdata at electoral district, ED, level, while ensuring it is not low enough to embarrass anybody in terms of GDPR but is high enough for people to understand whether it is in their town or townland. A set of figures was made available on 12 August and that was the first set of localised figures since June, so there was a two-month gap, and ED level figures have not been made available since 12 August. Effectively, if we go back as far as June, we have one date for which localised figures are available, and nothing before or since. This is a live issue, not an academic issue, an esoteric issue or something we can resolve in a fortnight's time. Kildare is in lockdown today, businesses are struggling today, the people are struggling today and we do not have figures for today, for yesterday or for tomorrow. I understand the Government is in entire agreement. The Taoiseach confirmed that to me and also confirmed it in a radio interview yesterday, and I do not think there is anyone who disagrees, yet the information is not there.

I am not sure who is best placed to answer that question, perhaps Dr. Glynn. However, can the data be made available as a matter of urgency? I believe it would drive public support for these measures if people could see what the situation is in their own towns.