Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am perplexed as to what is happening in this session. When we asked the Minister to come to the committee a few weeks ago, he was unable to do so. He is here now. I am not sure if he is aware of this but he is the main event today, not just for the committee but for the people of Ireland who want to see a plan and some certainty. The committee received a three-page opening statement, which was well spaced out with a lot of gaps, half an hour before the session began. There is no submission or further detail, and even within these three pages - and a lot can be said within three pages - there is nothing that gives people any kind of clarity or guidance on what they will have to do until at least Christmas, to use the Minister's timeline. That is deeply concerning.

The Minister spoke about a winter plan a number of times today. The chief executive of the HSE explicitly stated earlier that the HSE is not referring to a winter plan this year. He pulled me up on that earlier and said the HSE was looking to manage its services through winter and into next year and that it is in a totally different realm. I am wondering if the Minister and the HSE are even talking to each other.

In the Minister's opening statement, there is no mention of direct provision, meat plants or travel restrictions and how travel will work. There is no mention of a roadmap either. The Minister mentions Kildare, Laois and Offaly, which is quite disingenuous. If Kildare, Laois and Offaly are to be the pilot system for what we will be doing between now and Christmas, I am deeply concerned. The previous speaker asked about a roadmap and the Minister said a roadmap would be presented to the Oireachtas for discussion in the coming weeks. How will that work? Will we all thrash out a roadmap across the floor of the Oireachtas for a number of weeks before it is delivered? It is up to the Minister, on the advice of NPHET, to deliver a roadmap so that we all have certainty. We require leadership on this. I am at a loss as to where we are going.

To take what little detail the Minister has provided, on the localised county-by-county approach, how would it work for a county such as Dublin? God forbid there will be a big outbreak in Swords or Balbriggan.

Is the whole of Dublin city and county going to be closed down in that scenario? Will Dundrum and Shankill, and the people there, be shut down while Ashbourne and Drogheda, only three or four miles away from those towns, remain open? How is that going to work?