Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate all the public health officials and support them in their work. From the very outset of the crisis, there were some in society who wanted there to be more restrictions and, at the other end of the spectrum, there were others who believed the response was an overreaction. NPHET has charted a very sensible middle course between those two positions.

In recent phases, we have moved from a situation where activities were possible or not possible because of social distancing requirements to a situation where we seem to be saying that some activities are desirable or not desirable based on social mixing. That has led to some confusion and I do not think we have had that conversation with the Irish people. For example, I was told about a situation in a holiday setting where a restaurant was open with social distancing of 1 m but an outdoor seating area where music was being played, and where distancing of up to 3 m was possible, was closed. It would seem to be far safer to have people eating outdoors with greater distancing but there was not an understanding of the rules by the operators. We need to revisit the discussion around why decisions have been made and clear up the confusion as to whether it is okay if there is distancing of 2 m and not okay if there is not. We need to look again at how we are communicating why some activities are desirable and others are not. The discussion around GAA matches and other outdoor games is one of the areas where clarity is needed. We do not want those activities to go ahead because they involve mixing households, even though distancing of 2 m may be possible.

My next question relates to organised sports events in indoor facilities. Guidance from Sport Ireland talks about multiple pods of six being allowed where sufficient space is available in reference to dance classes, athletics classes and so on. Will the witnesses clarify what is meant by "sufficient space"? In a standard school hall with pods of six, what distance would be needed between those pods?

My final question is about schools. There will be outbreaks in schools. We heard earlier from the HSE that they have a plan for that. Very early on, the first outbreak was in a school in my constituency and the information was circulating more quickly than the public health authorities could respond. I ask that everything be done to name local clusters because they are already known by parents. The rumour mill works very fast and I ask that everything be done to have as much transparency as possible when those outbreaks take place.