Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our first thoughts must be with the families who have lost loved ones during this emergency. In addition, the inability of their friends and communities to participate with them in acknowledging and celebrating the lives of their loved ones is an added burden they have to bear. Yesterday's figures are a reminder that Ireland has succeeded in substantially reducing the potential spread of the virus but it is still spreading and causing immense damage. We continue to rely on the incredible work of health professionals and support staff in every community throughout our country.

I extend our best wishes to Deputy McDonald. The unacceptably long wait for test results she experienced must have been almost unbearable for herself and her family and I hope she will be well enough to return here in the coming weeks.

I also welcome Deputy Kelly in his capacity as leader of the Labour Party. I have already congratulated him on his success. I also pay tribute to Deputy Brendan Howlin, who has a long-established record of genuine committed public service to the country. He is also a great parliamentarian.

In the short time available to us in this session, I will focus on a number of the major issues that have arisen in the past fortnight concerning current policies and future planning. Before I do so, I want to put on record the strong view of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party that Parliament continues to have a role to play and that democratic accountability is not just legitimate but essential at a time when we all have agreed to give such strong powers and support to Government and State bodies. Particularly given the difficulty some journalists have experienced in getting direct and timely answers to legitimate questions, we should agree before next week a system for greater parliamentary oversight. This must not interfere with the response or put staff in harm's way but there are parliaments in many places that have found other ways of working.

In the more than half a century during which academics have been studying crisis response as a separate discipline, the single most consistent finding has been that the public can be trusted with the full truth. In fact, it is when the public loses confidence that it is being kept fully informed that unease and a refusal to follow advice are most likely to grow. This is why I believe in full transparency on where outbreaks and clusters, which we can see in our nursing homes, are happening. The research on public health emergencies in particular is absolutely consistent on this, as it is on the need for challenging voices to be respected and to be open and transparent in acknowledging weaknesses. Any response to an unprecedented and rapidly moving emergency will always involve errors. What matters is to look for them and deal with them. When this is eventually over, a systematic approach to learning from mistakes or oversights will be central to making sure we can respond even faster and more effectively to future crises.

We all know that nursing homes are now at the forefront of the spread of the virus and a large number of virus-linked deaths. Today, we will seek greater clarity on a number of essential points. Unfortunately, I must report to the House that I know of a case in which relatives of a person in a nursing home have been informed the nursing home has been told by the Department that it should not give out information about the number of cases in the home. This information will come out anyway and it would be much better to help the nursing homes through showing them how to communicate information and the reassurances families need that their loved ones are being protected as much as possible.

Clearly, Ireland is not ready to begin reversing the main restrictions introduced in the past month but we are certainly in a position where we should outline the key decision points and how the process of lifting restrictions will be implemented. Many countries have done this in the past week and, as the Taoiseach said, we can learn lessons from how their situation evolves but it is a sensible approach to providing structure to a debate which could otherwise involve poor decision-making.

For Ireland to open up we must permanently address the critical issue of the capacity to rapidly test people both for the virus and, ultimately, for antibodies. Only when we can actually achieve significant community testing will we understand the level and impact of the virus here. We want to hear from the Government about the concrete steps that are planned to get Ireland to a place where more people are being tested, results are returned much faster and new cases are rapidly traced. That is the essential foundation for having confidence in lifting restrictions. Full transparency is required.

The particular burden borne by our health and care professionals, and support staff, has been incredible. Again, the degree to which they put themselves in harm's way manifested in the two deaths in Kilkenny over the past number of days. We want to hear in concrete terms exactly what the current assessment is about basic personal protection equipment, PPE.

The Irish people have shown time and again that they are committed to doing everything possible to control the virus and to help our country get through this terrible period. It is our job here to make sure that they have all of the information they need to understand what is happening and what has to be done. Transparency and accountability are more important than ever and, hopefully, today's session will be held in this spirit.

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