Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This is the last week for this committee to meet and we had intended bringing in all the health bodies that are relevant in the context of dealing with Covid. I am quite taken aback that they are not here. I would like to know the reason. Today we are concentrating on testing and tracing. The HSE has a certain amount of information to provide to us, but many aspects of testing and tracing are determined by NPHET. When we put questions to Paul Reid, frequently the response is that NPHET determines what is done. It is highly unsatisfactory that we are here today during the last week of the committee discussing the issue of testing and tracing, and one of the key bodies is not here. When were the representatives from NPHET invited? What explanation did they give for not attending?