Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of comparisons of risk, during a conversation about getting schools open, I made a comment about our need to manage risk. I believe one of the examples I used caused a great deal of genuine hurt, anxiety and concern. It was in my head, as it happens, because it was how one of my kids had recently broken an arm. I was not for a moment suggesting that the risks were at all comparable. Nevertheless, I understand that in an environment where people are very worried, it caused anxiety, and I certainly did not mean to add to anybody's anxiety.

If I might provide some good news in respect of the point the Deputy made about children, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland has just released its latest view on the impact of Covid-19 on children from a health perspective.

I will just read one paragraph, if I may. It states:

It is clear now that fortunately the vast majority of children who get SARS-CoV 2 infection do not develop severe COVID-19 illness. This also appears to be the case for children with underlying health problems, these children may get an infection with very few symptoms at all or they may experience an illness like, but usually no worse than, the seasonal flu. Children who are immunocompromised, or taking immune medications for inflammatory conditions such as arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease, also do not appear to have an increased risk from COVID-19.

We are all worried. I am sending my own children back to school tomorrow. There is, however, good, positive news emerging from the experts on this.

To address the Deputy's broader question on striking the right balance in managing the risk in society, we are all figuring this out as we go, as is every country. It was put to me by medical experts regarding counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly that because of early detection and what we now know about the virus, we were able to bring in much less restrictive measures than the countrywide lockdown we saw. The point was made to me by one expert that if that had happened four months ago, it would have spread into the whole country and we would have had to lock down the entire country. If the first piece of good news is that the medical evidence on children is reassuring, the second piece is that we are learning every day about this virus and are now at a point where, as proven by the efforts of counties Laois, Kildare and Offaly and the people living there, targeted localised measures can work.

I suppose the Deputy is now asking the next question, which is whether we can be even more non-specific than that. Perhaps, at this point, we have all internalised the guidelines, namely, to limit our social interactions, wear a face covering, obey social instancing and all the other measures we all now know. The answer is, hopefully, in time, "yes". If chapter one was flattening the curve by locking down the country, we are now at the start of chapter two, which is suppressing the virus in a targeted way so the rest of society and the economy can function. Perhaps, the Deputy is describing chapter three whereby it will become implicit in how we live, work and interact and that will be enough.

The expert view from NPHET is that we are not there at this point and based on the increasing number of cases in Ireland, the rate at which they are rising, the profile of those cases, which are in workplaces, homes and social settings, we are finely balanced in terms of a second wave right now. If there is a second wave, the Government will have to consider the blunt instrument which we know works, that is, a lockdown. We are doing everything we can to avoid that. Certainly, the public health advice right now it is that targeted measures are needed. I agree in spirit with what the Deputy is saying. We have to trust people. People know how to deal with this. In some of the targeted measures we are specifically targeting areas where, perhaps, the level of compliance is not what it needs to be and maybe simply just trusting everybody to do the right thing is not enough. We know, for example, there have been house parties and that they have been considerable vectors of this disease.