Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Naughten made a comparison between NPHET and the CCAC, which is something useful and interesting to think about. In the same way NPHET is not sovereign, neither does the CCAC have a divine authority. The Government will have the final say. It is an advisory group that gives its advice, using the best economic and scientific knowledge it has, to the Government and the Government then takes it on board. Obviously, the two bodies are not exactly the same, and NPHET is dealing with very new and emerging science. It looks at papers published last week on a disease that emerged last year. Climate science is more mature than this so the CCAC is not in quite the same short timeframes. Covid is an emergency and there is an urgency to it. It is a valid comparison but we cannot say the CCAC will have some kind of great authority over the Government. It is the other way around. It is an advisory group.