Mr. David Hughes:

The Senator makes some points about the evidence that is being given but one cannot ignore the fact that we are dealing with a pandemic and employees have an obligation to tell their employers if they have Covid. That is an obligation in the public health regulations. The idea that an employer would be breaching GDPR regulations is stretching it. The reality is we are dealing with a pandemic and with something that is conveyed from one human to another. We must all work to ensure that wherever there are outbreaks, be they in households, workplaces, hospitals or institutions, they can be dealt with in a way that suppresses the virus.

I agree that the wider question of removing regulation 224, as the Senator has suggested, is a bigger issue and that needs to be dealt with. The 2007 report by Professor Anne Drummond of UCD did not suggest that it should be withdrawn from the Act. It was an original requirement in the Act that disease would be reportable. That requirement was taken out in 2016 and the HSA is conducting an RIA on that. The reality is that Covid is rampant. Lots of workplaces are looking to get staff back in and if we do not get a reportable system then our ability to control this disease is lessened and workers are less protected.