Mr. Paddy Kavanagh:

The Deputy raised a very important point regarding workers' rights. I mentioned earlier that in Germany the Kurzarbeitsystem is run in consultation with workers and their representatives, that is, their trade unions. The systems they put in place are much more closely aligned to the needs of workers, the industry and employers. That is quite important and we have not had it here. Under that system, the subsidy goes directly to the workers, which is also important.

On the importance of testing, our members welcome the traffic light system. There should not be a big argument about rapid testing versus PCR testing. Reference was made to countries that are on the red list, but under the traffic light system there are also grey countries, where nothing is known about the Covid situation in the country or it is not providing information.