Mr. Muiris O'Connor:

The delay was indeed unfortunate, and it left little time for us to communicate the detail of the regulation and, in particular, when it would become effective. At its Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Government signalled a date and we worked morning, noon and night after that meeting to give effect to the regulation. A fair amount of complexity was involved in extending the scope of testing to include antigen tests. It had not been encompassed in previous regulations and required a lot of discussion back and forward. In addition, a great deal of detail about the exemptions that would or would not apply was required, especially regarding the travel ban covering South Africa and the other countries included in the context of the Omicron regulations. We realised we were running out of time. In interactions with our colleagues at this meeting and in other Government Departments, it was decided that we had to communicate in this regard. We felt from an early point that a notice period of about 48 hours was appropriate. We were not in a position to provide the clarity on the details that people sought from us through our embassies and elsewhere, so it was not an ideal situation by any means. Lessons have been learned. In future, we would signal our intention and perhaps do the groundwork before clarifying a notice of exact implementation.