Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Of course I do understand the implications, which is why I keep saying it. It is why we brought in the measures last week, because we must suppress the virus in our community. A huge national priority has been getting the schools open for many of the reasons the Chair gives. That is now happening because the transmission has been reduced. I think the Chair's question is fair. The number of cases is going up and we know it is going up very quickly. For example, the key measure the public health experts use is the number of cases over the last two weeks per 100,000 of population.