Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am in Leinster House. I thank the witnesses for their submissions and presentations. I was struck by their content, the description of loss and the personal experiences we heard about. Coming back to LilyRose, her statement that she is not a vector is a powerful one. With the evolving information, the news and so on, everything has changed. March of last year feels like a very long time ago. It is now perhaps easy to forget that in the beginning that was the message that was put out regarding children. Reflecting on it today, it is striking to hear LilyRose put it so well. It was terribly offensive to children. It must have been a horrible experience. LilyRose’s statement, therefore, is a strong one and a good reminder for us.

Conor stated that his parents are doctors and he could not hug them. There is a very personal sacrifice there. We are struck by how, behind closed doors and within families, people had to take very personal stances in protecting everyone from the virus. I am grateful that everyone, including Conor’s family, made such good choices behind closed doors. However, I am struck by the loss and enduring sacrifice they had to make.

Olga was strong in her presentation on the experience of loneliness and in describing the loneliness of the experience of the virus. To me, her abiding message is that sense of the shock of the change, that we could go from one state of being where we presumed everything was going to be alright to the world suddenly changing overnight and having to abide by a whole set of rules that we did not know beforehand. Olga described that particularly well.

My questions are for all our guests. How would they like to see us as a nation recognise those losses and respect them? What would they like us to do to commemorate those we lost? Should we have a national holiday or a commemoration day? Given the specific creativity our guests have brought to this meeting and coming from The Ark and representing a children’s council, have they explored that idea? What would their recommendations be on that? That should be a central plank in how we as a Government and an Oireachtas respond.