Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not know what the cost has been in relation to Aer Lingus, but I will check it out and revert to the Deputy. As he rightly said, its staff have done heroic work. I thank the crews, pilots and everyone else who have left their families and flown out there to do this. They have done the country a great service. I do not know the answer - I am being honest - but I will come back to Deputy Berry on it.

On the issue of quality assurance, we do not have anyone on the ground in China. I am told it is very difficult to get anyone on the ground. What we are doing is having the equipment quality assured by Professor Martin Cormican and his team when it arrives, before it is dispensed to staff. While I accept that is not ideal, nothing about this pandemic is ideal. As the equipment is coming in batches, we are also able to tweak and feed back what we would or would not like in the next batch, based on what came in the previous one. It is not ideal - nothing about the pandemic is - but I am told it is not logistically possible to get somebody on the ground as well.

I wish to record my gratitude to the Chinese authorities and the Chinese ambassador here in Ireland for their assistance. Many countries are crying out for PPE. We have challenges here but we have a supply line. Of course, we would all love the equipment to be provided here in Ireland. If we can do more, we should, and we are trying and working with our agencies, but in the midst of a pandemic we need to get our hands on as much stuff as possible. As Paul Reid said, it is better to be looking at it than looking for it. I think that is a good philosophy. While not everything we have received has been absolutely perfect, the overwhelming majority of it has. We will continue to keep that under review. If it is possible to get someone on the ground, we would be delighted to, but I am told it is not realistic at the moment.

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