James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is interesting. Credit is due in many ways with regard to the work the Department has done. There have obviously been flaws and issues, however, and the job of this committee is to identify them and to try to the processes involved. That said, we have to acknowledge that there was a lot of very hard work done rapidly to try to help businesses out. Nobody here disputes that, but, obviously, our duty is to scrutinise both the accounts and the direction of the Department.

It would be remiss of me not to use some of the time I have as follows. Obviously, where we are now compared with where we were two months is very concerning in the context of the situation with Covid. Can Dr. Quinn give us any outline from her Department's point of view? What is the Department planning at present in terms of what may come down the line? Could Dr. Quinn see us going back to a previous situation? Is the Department making contingency plans for potentially looking at businesses being forced to close again? Obviously, we have seen that there will be additional restrictions imposed on the nightclub industry. That is a considerable worry to many businesses at present. Has the Department got contingency plans in the event that that should arise because of the unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of this pandemic that we are battling?