Mr. Neil McDonnell:

It is very likely where a parent has to restrict his or her movements there are going to be people in nursing homes and child care facilities, teachers, gardaí and nurses who are not going to go to work because, even if they are fully vaccinated, they are close contacts and they will be out of work for five days.

The Deputy mentioned a person who will not be paid. Typically, anyone who works in the public service is paid for his or her time off. An awful lot of people in the private sector are not so you have both a service absence issue and a pay issue for those who have to restrict because they are a close contact. I do not suggest there is an easy answer to the problem and I appreciate there must be a public health response but we cannot assume there will not be a service impact on the economy. It looks like we are going to have a significant number of close contacts among the people who are in the fully vaccinated community.