Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not have any headset. I will repeat what I said as quickly as possible. I was talking about the importance of mandatory quarantine. I did hear what Dr. Glynn said about NPHET's current position on travel, namely, that the regime is not sufficient. I heard him say that earlier to Deputy Shortall. I wanted to put on the record that I read a tweet this morning from a young woman who said she quarantined in a room by herself for two weeks after her husband died, meaning she could not go to his funeral and could not be comforted by anyone for two weeks right after the most traumatic day of her life. She then wrote "and you're all worried about inconveniencing tourists".

I do not want to trivialise this in any way with regard to travel. I understand there has to be essential travel. However, I do believe mandatory quarantine is important. We see that it has worked in Australia. It leads to reduced numbers and that is really important. I do not really have a question as such because Dr. Glynn has answered many of the questions around that.

There is another question I would like to ask. Before Christmas, Dr. Holohan was asked about alcohol and the role of alcohol in spreading the virus. Has there been any more information around alcohol and how it can spread or has spread the virus over the Christmas period? We all know how alcohol can lower people's inhibitions. I hope the committee members and witnesses were able to catch all that. I wanted to ask Dr. Glynn about the role of alcohol in spreading the disease.