Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their attendance and for their fantastic presentations, which were so concise and detailed. They were fascinating and it something I was not aware of. I appreciate their highlighting the importance of eliminating infected air with good ventilation.

At this stage of the pandemic, when everyone is exhausted after lockdown and after a long, tough winter, many people seem to have lost hope. The reopening of society and reconnection with community is incredibly important now but based on what we have heard today, it seems that we as a health committee need to start planning around the implementation of ventilation systems that will operate as we come out of the summer into the winter once again. This information is extremely important and I totally agree about schools. It is critical at this point. We need to focus long and hard on how we will protect young people and children. In her opening statement, Ms Hegarty rightly stated "Vaccines alone cannot provide enough headroom for reopening", and I fully agree with her in this regard.

I have a couple of questions and I ask the witnesses to forgive me if I am repeating some of them as I lost the line earlier and could not hear some of the meeting. To follow up on Deputy Durkan's question on the cost for schools, do the witnesses have any idea about that? I think it needs to be made a top priority. What would the witnesses like us, as a committee, to do to support them in the work they are doing?