Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Holohan mentioned "sustainable low levels of domestic transmission" in his opening statement. What is that? Can he define it in terms of metrics, and what is it that he will be looking for in this regard? Will we come out of lockdown on 1 December 2020 and if so, what level of restrictions will we move to? I am of the view that the public are entitled to have an idea of what exactly is happening. Everyone agrees that the virus has been spreading and we need to bring it under control but there must be a pathway out. Is the policy one of lockdown, release and containment, or is it that we live with the virus?

I want to link those issues to the aviation sector. Dr. Holohan made reference to the fact that no matter how well we do here, his decision will also take account of how other countries are doing. What is the sustainable level that Dr. Holohan wants these other countries to have in place? There is no testing at airports at the moment. If pre-departure tests were brought in, that would reduce the risk of travel, the risk to people in Ireland, and the risk to passengers on flights. The Minister for Health said that the rate of transmission in air travel is 1%, yet Dr. Holohan is saying that last summer it accounted for almost a quarter of all cases. Everything is relative. If the rate of transmission is very low domestically, then while the rate of transmission in travel might also be very low, relative to the domestic rate, it might be much higher, so everything is relative.

All those questions are interlinked and I ask Dr. Holohan to respond. What does he regard as the sustainable low level of domestic transmission? Will we come out of lockdown on 1 December 2020, and what level will we go to? What type of policy is the national policy now? Is it a policy of lockdown, release and containment, living with the virus, or a defer and vaccine policy? Linking that to international travel, what will be the components of the policy? Dr. Holohan made reference to us getting to a certain level. Is he saying that regardless of how well we do here, if the incidence in other countries is not coming down at the same rate, then there should be no international travel? These are the questions that the public are asking.