Dr. Tony Holohan:

We have had a duty and responsibility to make assessments of the public health impacts of this disease, both in terms of transmission and impact on the population. We have done that to the best of our ability. We have provided the advice as clearly as we possibly could. In addition, we have always taken that role seriously. I can tell the Deputy at a personal level, I would far prefer at times to be giving different advice and to find ourselves as a country being able to live with different measures.

Going back to the very first time that I had to engage with the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the then Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, because the Taoiseach was out of the country at the time, to advise on the closure of schools, universities and a range of things such as that, that was a very onerous and heavy burden of responsibility. We take all of those measures and responsibilities seriously. We have always done that to the best of our ability.

When we look back in time, that relationship was functional to the extent it kept us, as a country, in a situation where we did very well in comparison to many other countries, if you like, in relative terms, when we look at things such as excess mortality and those major burdens of disease measures. Most of those calls that we made, both in terms of the advice and the decisions that the Government made based on that advice, have been good calls.