Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Collins and Connolly for sharing time. An outbreak of Covid-19 or coronavirus in County Clare became public knowledge across the county today. Obviously, people are very concerned and afraid.

I want to pay tribute to one group of people in particular, those who work in the ambulance service. As we speak, people are being contacted and the ambulance service is travelling out and swabbing and testing people for Covid-19. In a way, I am very humbled by that, when we compare how seriously they take their duties and responsibilities with, perhaps, how seriously this Dáil has taken its duties and responsibilities since we were all elected. It should be of reassurance to the people of Clare that the ambulance personnel are doing what they are doing. Obviously, there is an inherent risk to all medical personnel from this outbreak. It is a huge tribute to them that they are doing what they are doing.

If anybody in Clare is listening to the Dáil at this hour, I urge them not to present to their GP surgeries or accident and emergency units if they fear they may have contracted the virus but instead to telephone ahead. I am happy that people are being contacted. I am not happy because the Minister has told me but because I have heard from health professionals across the county that people who have been in contact with the virus are being contacted and ambulance personnel are making their way to them to test them. I pay tribute to them for that.

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