Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to register an objection to the fact that, two weeks in a row, we have asked the acting Chief Medical Officer and NPHET to come before the committee. We expected them to come in today but they are not coming. It is extraordinary. We have had one party leaders' briefing, which included the acting CMO and NPHET, since the new Government was elected. On two occasions now we have asked for the acting CMO and NPHET to come in here in the context of rising infections, the case numbers going in the wrong direction and many worries about the strategy being pursued and we cannot get key people at the front line of the State's response to Covid-19 to come in here.

It is unacceptable and frustrating and adds to my much repeated concern about the expert advisory group's and NPHET's minutes being published months after the meetings take place. Getting information from NPHET is like pulling teeth. What is happening is unacceptable.