Dr. Tony Holohan:

We are in a different situation now as regards the disease in this country than we were two or four weeks ago. I hope we are on a trajectory we can maintain. The Chairman is asking me to look forward a period of six weeks and it is simply not possible to do that. I do not say this in any critical sense, but it is a hypothetical situation. We can only make that assessment at a point in time and then make our advice available for whatever period we think is reasonable. We are talking about travel over a two-week period.

I completely understand the sensitivities that will exist for families and people who are thinking about these kinds of arrangements and wishing to come back together, probably family members who have not seen each other for many months. I understand all the implications for the airline industry. We are simply trying to, in as dispassionate and as evidence-based a way as possible, advise on what we think the risks are and how best to ameliorate and address them. We are seeking assurance that if we make the progress that we think we can make over the course of the coming weeks, we will not inadvertently put that at risk through the arrangements we put in place over the course of December that may lead to significant importation of the disease that we are unable to detect and prevent.