Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My next question is for Dr. Holohan. I have praised NPHET which has done a lot of good work. However, there are some areas in which NPHET and, indeed, the other cogs of public health could be accused of tardiness over the past 12 months. There are two that I wish to reference, in particular, and I hope Dr. Holohan can comment on them. The first is the report compiled by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health on addressing vitamin D deficiency in Ireland. We undertook a significant body of work. Expert witnesses appeared before the committee and strong recommendations were made in the report. The report went to NPHET and I think it is with the Food Safety Authority at the moment. The second was the report of the Covid-19 Rapid Testing Group on antigen testing.

Again, it was a Government report - Professor Ferguson's report - and NPHET dismissed elements of it. They were two critical pieces in our national armoury against Covid that I believe there was tardiness in introducing. Will Dr. Holohan offer some commentary months later on the reason for the tardiness and if NPHET has any regrets about the lack of progression on those two areas?