Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I thank all the witnesses for their submissions and contributions. This proposed legislation is sponsored by me. I will not say it close to my heart, but it is a little bit. The Bill, as we know, arose from conversations during April and May last year regarding a request made by ICTU to introduce an amendment to ensure that Covid-19 becomes a notifiable disease.

I ask the witnesses for their views on the previous situation. I will refer briefly to a contribution from another Deputy to the Covid committee. He referenced the previous regulations from 2007. We know that in 2016 a change was made to remove infectious diseases from the regulations. Do the witnesses have a view on why that was changed and what the potential implications would be if we reverted to the pre-2016 situation? I am easy about who goes first. Perhaps they can go in the order in which they spoke earlier.