Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It would be great if the HSE had any further figures to share.

I will bounce the second question off the witnesses and that will be my main questions asked, and then anybody else who wants to come in may do so. Could any of the witnesses offer their thoughts on the following? We have talked a lot about mandatory quarantine, and there has been comment from some political corners to the effect that it is not necessary and that we will not go down that route. I think it is important and necessary. Certainly, we in the Labour Party are supportive of it. What impact do the witnesses think not introducing mandatory quarantine will have on tackling the spread of this virus? We can say we do not want people travelling unless it is absolutely essential. Have we learned over the past ten months, however, that people will keep travelling and we simply need to go down the mandatory quarantine route, or what do the witnesses think the impact will be if we do not go down it? There was not a huge amount of support or calls for mandatory quarantine earlier in the pandemic. Do the witnesses think that was the wrong call? Perhaps the media portrayed things for which there was no support, and I recognise that the things the media report on have to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it felt like there was not a huge amount of support earlier in this crisis for mandatory quarantining. Do the witnesses think that has had a knock-on impact on the spread of this virus?