Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach finds it very difficult to answer any question without some personal slur. Red weather alerts are a matter of life and death. I am looking for clarity in regard to this. I am here a long time too, like Deputy Micheál Martin. Whenever there is a briefing on an issue like this for the Taoiseach, it is normal, and a matter of courtesy, to invite key local representatives and others to attend. That is all I am saying on this.

In terms of the net point, in the middle of the crisis the Minister for Health had to tweet a response countermanding a HSE memo on workers using annual leave to cover absences. What we need is clarity. These are no longer once-in-a-generation events and we have had two in five months. If, as the Taoiseach told me last October, there was to be a review and it was to be presented in January, where is the review and what is the policy? Let us debate it so we can have clarity for all these brave, heroic public sector workers the next time we face a red alert, and there will be a next time.

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