David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will ask the Minister about testing and tracing, which is important as well. Unless we keep on top of the virus and unless we can keep the numbers down low, that will present more challenges for our healthcare system. The best we can do is to make sure that the overall strategy is correct in terms of the public health strategy and all of the tools that we have at our disposal are working. Why, according to the latest figures that I have got, was there a target for 2,000 swabbers and contact tracers to be employed yet only 1,577 are currently employed? Why is the HSE not even meeting its own targets for staffing and for capacity when we know that testing and tracing will become very important again as the numbers become lower? Can the Minister explain why he has set a target of 2,000 swabbers and contact tracers yet, despite all the sacrifices that people have made by abiding by public health restrictions, the State has not met it?