Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. Glynn and his colleagues. I thank them for their ongoing work.

Dr. Glynn said earlier that we must do all we can to prevent the introduction of new variants and we all agree with that. In that context, I wish to ask some questions about the decisions on mandatory hotel quarantining and the rationale for the selection of those countries included on the list. Will he provide us with some of the reasons underpinning those decisions please?

In a radio interview yesterday morning, the Minister for Health said that the main criterion for selecting EU countries for mandatory hotel quarantining is the level of variants. Questions arise about this. Why is there a distinction between the selection of EU countries and the rest of the world with regard to the criteria that will apply?

There is an issue with the dependence on new variants in the selection criteria for several EU countries that do not engage in genomic sequencing and instances where that science is weak. We know from an ECDC report back in February that several European countries do not carry out genomic sequencing. What is Dr. Glynn's view on the implications of the fact that many EU countries cannot be relied on to provide data on genomic sequencing? Is it the case that those countries are rewarded by not being included on the list for mandatory hotel quarantine?

How is it that the incidence of the virus seems to be set aside when it comes to selecting countries at EU level? When we look at the figures, countries on the list such as Italy, Belgium and Austria have a 14-day incidence rate of approximately 500 cases per 100,000. Other countries that are not on the list have in the region of 1,000 cases per 100,000. What exactly is the science underpinning the selection of those countries?