David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I need to come back in and say a number of things. I will put my questions when I finish my point.

It is immaterial how many cases there were during the summer months because we know that lockdowns are used to reduce the numbers. The time is then used to build up defences so that when the number of cases increases we have very robust testing and tracing that can then be used to hunt down and stay ahead of the virus. That did not happen because we do not have the capacity today. There are 581 today and the HSE hopes to have 800 by the end of the year. Ms O'Beirne said that is not ideal. That is an understatement in terms of how people will see it, especially the 1,900 people that the HSE had to apologise to.

I have practical questions on how this impacts people. An elderly patient who is due for a scope in Bantry Hospital in County Cork contacted me. He was told he had to go for a Covid test and had to travel to Cork city, a two-hour round trip. Yet, there is a testing centre 4 km from him his home. Why is this happening? There are any number of examples where people had to travel far beyond where they live when there are testing centres close to them.

I received an email from a HSE official which confirmed to me that teachers and SNAs are being told to disable the Covid app when they go to work. Are the witnesses aware of that? Can they confirm whether and why it happens?