Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their time and input. I am going to ask all my questions together as I am limited on time. Dr. McConkey was asked about immunity testing and I think he was saying it may be good for about three to four months. He might elaborate on that. In the context of his recent comments on contact tracing, one of the issues we are facing is in respect of people who have tested positive trying to remember with whom they were in contact with over the relevant period. That is proving difficult. I would welcome Dr. McConkey's thoughts on that. The all-Ireland response is crucial and it is unfortunate that there are two different systems in operation on the island. It would be great to have a unified strategy.

I fully agree with Dr. Schaffer's opening remarks on the two pillars. She mentioned that she delivered a paper at a Covid-19 meeting and that it ranked among the top ten papers in Europe. I would like to hear more on that, maybe after this. Dr. Ryan mentioned the best performing countries and listed a number of them. I am keen to know in comparison to Ireland what was the impact on their economies and on the movements of the populace.

I compliment Dr. Giesecke on his succinct answers throughout the meeting, which help all of us who have limited time. He mentioned that a soft, voluntary lockdown may be quite effective. Could he elaborate on that? What would a soft lockdown be as opposed to a hard one? He also referred to allowing controlled spread among people below 60 while concentrating on the old and frail with frequent testing of staff and residents in care homes. Obviously, that would be ideal if it were possible but how could it be made possible? Finally, Dr. Giesecke said that Covid has surprised us many times and may again. Unfortunately, I totally agree with that. We do not know and we are in uncharted waters.