Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Taoiseach is right but I am afraid I am not convinced at this moment. The Taoiseach mentioned the shared island element in his address. The Minister of Health in the North of Ireland, Mr. Robert Swann, stated just in the past week that he was finding it difficult to achieve co-operation with the southern Administration and that there was not a natural flow of information to his Ministry. He indicated, for example, that information pertaining to variants found in the South was obtained by him through the media. Is it not incredible, when there is so much logic to an all-Ireland approach to the illness, that there is a unionist, who in general would have an aversion to North–South co-operation, complaining about the southern Government not communicating key information required to ensure the health and well-being of the population? I have asked the Taoiseach where the secretariat is for North-South co-operation on Covid. I understand there is none. I asked him to state which Department is the locus of North-South co-operation on Covid and I now understand there is no specific Department managing this. Why is it that unionist ministers are complaining about the lack of co-operation of the southern Administration on a life-and-death issue such as this?