Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The cross-party collaborative nature of the national public health emergency team, NPHET, committee or the Covid-19 committee helped us in communicating messages, understanding and working across the spectrum on different challenges we faced. If a new committee or agency is to be established, it could involve all political parties and the whole political system. Does the Minister see it happening in the lifetime of this Government? One of the observations that has been made is that a large burden is placed on the Minister's Department. I have stated previously that it is eyebrow-raising to see a Minister on the radio during a time of crisis calling for all Departments to play their role in responding to the crisis. Do we need to see a different agency come to the fore in a more immediate sense? How long would it take? We cannot wait until the next Government emergency. This needs to happen quickly.