Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that he does not have the answer to that today, but it is essential because beyond serving up a pint and packets of peanuts and getting dinners on tables, people who run pubs and restaurants need to know this is pretty much bombproof and simple to practice. They need an awful lot there. They are now gearing up for reopening which everyone really welcomes but this just a layer of anxiety they should not have in the coming days.

How much has all this cost? I ask because this is something that has been scrambled and put together very quickly, though very successfully. The Minister of State mentioned partner organisations in his presentation so I am wondering how much has this cost to date. I am sure there will be ongoing operational costs. On a final point, I raise the wait time in airports. We have seen in the UK there have been considerable delays in the London airports in particular. Yesterday we had departmental officials before us, including Mr. Lowry. I was concerned because, if I understood them correctly, a person will be asked to present his or her Covid certificate at the departure gate. By then, a person will have gone through baggage drop-off, check-in, passport or border control, duty free and probably had a cup of coffee. The person has gone all the way through the concourse of the airport but he or she is only showing this all-important certificate literally before he or she goes through the doorway to get aboard the plane. I am wondering about wait times. Has the Minister of State factored them in? Is the point of departure the best place to read it or should it nearly be kerbside? Kerbside check-in was introduced in the US years ago. It is very efficient. Just before you enter the concourse, you prove you are safe to fly in one of the three ways, namely, by being vaccinated, recovered or tested. It would be better to do it early on in that process. The Minister of State might clarify that and also go through the costings to date and the projected ongoing costing for the implementations of this.