Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Officials who are working extraordinarily hard seven days a week and who have not seen their families in weeks are working and making themselves available, as they want to and should, to brief Deputies and keep them up to date. They are doing a superb job and they deserve our support. In addition to that, myself and the Taoiseach will again brief leaders of all groupings in this House today as we are doing on at least a weekly basis. As a Member of this House, a Cheann Comhairle, I very much take the point about the paramount importance of the work of Dáil Éireann and the fact that it needs to be carried out in a transparent way.

However, I am deeply uneasy from a public health point of view that the House is meeting for this session today. That is not to say that the Dáil cannot meet. The European Parliament has met digitally or virtually in recent weeks. With a little ingenuity and innovation, it would not be beyond us to do what is being done in workplaces across the country.

Members should be clear that we are risking public health by being here today. No one in this Chamber is a close contact of mine. Members may be close contacts of their staff or family. Deputies are travelling from their households, beyond their close contacts, and coming into contact with other Members as well as officials, ushers and clerks for whom attendance is not optional. Their safety and health are of paramount importance. I appreciate the significant work done by the Ceann Comhairle in discharging his duties, but by sitting today in this fashion the House is sending a message that runs counter to the public health message to stay at home.

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