Dr. David Kenny:

I thank the Deputy. To address his first point briefly, he spoke about the reliance on people's common sense. That is what we do when we issue public health advice - we try and persuade people to make the right choices. However, I also think that the reason we have a system of laws is because we do not think that people's common sense is always reliable and we sometimes replace it with a diktat about what has to be done. Since that is why we have legal regulation, both in the pandemic context and generally, it is very important that we try to use persuasion and advice to guide people's behaviour. We must also not be afraid to use the law to try control that, while always maintaining proportionality and respecting human rights and constitutional imperatives when doing so.

I will comment briefly on direct provision. It is worthwhile looking into this. Replacing direct provision has been a matter of significant discussion for some time. It would seem, perhaps, like it would be worthwhile for the committee to have some direct discussions with stakeholders such as the Irish Refugee Council and the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland in terms of what might be done in the short term to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, it is beyond my expertise.