Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses, particularly Mr. Bassato. I assume this probably gives us some element of solace of a possibility. I agree with Senator Dooley that we probably do need a discussion with either the Minister for Foreign Affairs or the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs because we have had this discussion over the past two decades regarding harmonisation. What we can do is get our own ducks in a row. This committee will be discussing matters with NPHET and HIQA, particularly rapid testing, so we should build a conversation regarding the type of antigen testing that is being operated in Rome Airport. We need to reach some kind of conclusion and put some kind of framework together. I reiterate the point made by Deputy O'Rourke. We need some sort of pre-departure testing system that operates from here rather than just to here.

I accept that the airports are having significant difficulties, which means significant worries for workers. Could Mr. Philips address the proposal on new ways of working, which a number of craft workers have not accepted? They are now on 60% time. There is a belief among some of them that these are work practice changes and it is almost a case of "never waste an opportunity like this", namely, the Covid-19 pandemic.

As some workers working in terminal 2 are on contracts that are not as good as those of people working in terminal 1, they have an issue with pay parity while accepting the difficulties faced by the DAA at this point in time. We need an operating system across the board to get workers and management through this.