Mr. Robert Watt:

Not involving me and the Taoiseach, no there was not. During the pandemic - and the CMO was involved in these conversations - there were very many discussions with the political system about the need for us to enhance our preparedness and readiness for future pathogens and pandemics. We were very clear that while we felt that we had done well over the last two years, like all countries if we had been better prepared, had better integrated systems, had different capacities in different places and had a different structure then we could have managed it better, particularly regarding the questions of data and integration, the availability of data, and how we can access the capacity that exists across sectors. There are many people in public health departments across local sectors so how can we access their abilities? There were many conversations at a political level over the last number of years about how we can be better prepared for future pandemics. Part of what we were trying to achieve was to respond back to that clear view.