Mr. Liam Herrick:

The Deputy is correct to raise the issue of cocooning. The other area which members will be familiar with was the restrictions on movement and how it was presented by members of the Government and indeed other public officials, particularly regarding the so-called 5 km limit on movement. It was suggested by many people that individuals were limited to a 5 km radius during that time when in fact, the 5 km only related specifically to the reasonable excuse of exercise. Whereas these are significant problems about the Government being unclear about what the law is, a lot of credit must go to An Garda Síochána for the common sense and discretion with which it exercised these powers and the leadership it showed in not wishing to overreach powers which were in many respects drawn very broadly. However, it not satisfactory on an ongoing basis that we would continue to rely on the discretion and judgment of An Garda Síochána with regard to regulations which are very broadly drafted. We are now surely at a critical point where most of the restrictions are being lifted and on one hand Government is saying it does not intend to reintroduce them while on the other, it is retaining this extremely broad power for the Minister for Health to legislate without consultation with Parliament.