Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chief Medical Officer and his team for the fantastic job they have done over the past two years and for their accessibility to us as a committee and as politicians. Their daily press conferences, when they carried them out, were extremely informative, and when they moved to a weekly basis they were still informative. It has been very difficult, and it is important that the work they have done is recognised.

One side of this pandemic - Deputy Kenny spoke about it earlier - is long Covid. Has NPHET a plan regarding long Covid or specific advice as to what the Government now needs to do to help people with long Covid, that is, people who have the symptoms of Covid for a long period? I do not know if there is proper research or information available in numerical terms. Dr. Glynn spoke about specifics. I know of cases in which people have been severely affected by long Covid. What is the witnesses' view on what is being done in that area? Is enough being done? Does more work need to be done, perhaps? The witnesses might comment on that.

I have always been very interested in the weekly research that is carried out and the information NPHET gleans from it. I think Dr. Glynn spoke about it earlier. It is very interesting. I agree, from the bit of knowledge that I pick up when out and about, that when people got negative antigen tests they assume they are free to go, essentially, particularly children in school. I know that the research NPHET did showed that as a particular problem. I would be interested to know what research it is doing at this moment in time. What are the questions it is asking? What are the areas it is concerned about and on which it is doing research in terms of public attitudes and what the public are doing?

Would Dr. Holohan mind answering those two questions?