Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. On being pressed for time, I must represent the country at the European Council which starts at 2 p.m. I would not like the country to be unrepresented at it. In addition, as Members are aware, there is a two-hour public health rule which states that we will become close contacts if we are in the same space for more than two hours.

I will first answer the questions asked by Deputy McNamara as he kindly left me time to so do. A recovery plan is in development. It is the plan to allow us to unwind the restrictions that have been imposed on people. We expect to receive it and to be able to share it with the public before 5 May. We very much welcome consultation with Opposition parties which wish to make submissions on the plan. There is engagement with unions, employers and other sectors of society on how the unwinding of restrictions can best be achieved.

An app is being developed by the HSE. I do not know whether it will be ready before 5 May, although the Government would like it to be ready by then. I do not know enough about the area to be able to comment on whether it is open-source data content but I will find out and revert to the Deputy.

On the criteria for when restrictions can be eased, they are essentially the criteria set out by the World Health Organization. There are epidemiological criteria such as whether the number of cases and other data are going in the right direction, which is important. Second, there is the question of how are we doing in terms of ICU, bed capacity and overall health service capacity. In addition, there is the criteria of whether we have testing and contact tracing in place to respond to a second peak or a return of the virus, if that were to occur. Those are the kinds of criteria that come in.

Deputy Kelly raised-----

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