Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This will be a Government decision. Obviously, we will consult the Department of Health and our health officials and get the best health advice. None of us wants the virus being brought to Ireland and causing more issues. We must protect our testing regime. This is about instilling confidence in passengers who want to travel. No one will travel if he or she does not have faith in our testing regime. We must grapple with this situation. It will help tourism and FDI in time, but we will be a red zone country for the next six weeks. I hope that we will come out of that. Of those passengers who normally would fly to Ireland, 90% are from red zone countries. No one would want to come to Ireland while we are in level 5 anyway. Like our hotels and restaurants, we are not open. However, this is an important six-week window for us to prepare. We are reliant on the validation process outside the PCR testing system as well as on identifying capacity that will not impact on our health system. The DAA is working on that. There is a validation process in respect of other testing regimes. This is a fast-moving situation and will require an all-of-government approach that balances public health with keeping an open economy and connectivity, the importance of which we are acutely aware of. I assure the Chairman that everything is being done across the Government to ensure that happens more quickly.