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

It is precisely because of the threat of Covid-19 to the health and well-being of the citizens that proper scrutiny and discussion of the strategy being pursued is absolutely necessary in order to take the public with us through this difficult situation. I therefore strenuously object, as I have done over recent weeks, to the fact that we do not get a dedicated session with the CMO and NPHET to discuss the issue of strategy. I really do not understand why there seems to be such difficulty or where the block is coming from. I would really like to know what the problem is. Every single night the CMO and NPHET do a press conference yet we have difficulty getting them before the committee once over a couple of weeks. I just do not understand that. It is absolutely imperative that we have an open and transparent discussion about the strategy, particularly in the context of rising infections and the hardships people are enduring. Nobody should be afraid of that discussion. It raises concerns and anxiety when there seems to be a reluctance on the part of somebody - I do not know whether it is the Government, NPHET or the Department of Health - to have an open, honest, in-depth discussion. Such a discussion is not possible now that we have collapsed these two sessions in together. Deputies will have a minimal amount of time to ask questions and will have to make impossible choices between posing a question to the CMO and NPHET or posing it to the Minister for Health. It is not acceptable and I would like an explanation. I do not accept the logistical argument. As these invitations went out weeks ago, I do not accept that it is beyond the ken of the organisation of this House or not possible to have a dedicated session with the CMO and NPHET in order that we can have an in-depth discussion about these matters.