Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputy Joe O'Brien and I might ask a question of the Taoiseach but I want to make a statement.

Our hearts go out to the families of those 36 people who died yesterday. The other day when I was listening to the radio, Ryan Tubridy was interviewing somebody who asked how Ireland is at the moment. One of the things he said in a short response is that it is good because our political system listens to health advice. That struck me as a very simple truth. It is important and it is a good thing. Therefore, it is worrying that while there are a lot of good signs, such as the fact the ICU numbers and transmission rates are down, the number of deaths announced yesterday was a real shock. They are an ongoing shock for everyone. I understand that today, Dr. Tony Holohan said that if he were to give advice tomorrow on whether we should ease the restrictions as due on 18 May he would be reluctant to do so. This is a concern. He said there is still community transmission, and we can see it in the numbers, and this is also a concern.

We hear different things and today I also heard Alastair Campbell in the UK stating we should follow the scientific advice but we need to know the science and the figures. I say all of this by way of a long introduction to referencing Deputy Howlin, who introduced the open government partnership, as I recall, in 2011. Following scientific advice and emphasising the capability to provide open government, particularly on information in a scientific way, is very important at this time.

I connect this to another comment made in recent weeks by President Michael D. Higgins who, in a very important article in The Business Post, referred to a report from the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, that gives us a map for some of the ways we can manage the recovery. If it is not running into difficulty, I will quote the President, who said the report provided by NESC is a map for recovery and he asks that we be wise enough to use it. The reason I am connecting this is because the report refers to two areas of transformation that will help in the recovery. One is tackling the huge challenge of a reduction in climate emissions and the other is the issue of digitalisation, and how as a country we ensure we deliver a just transition in this as well as in our approach to climate change. The two are connected. As we start to manage the opening up of a recovery the report gives us a guide as to where to go.

The President describes the report as being as important as that written by Whitaker on the country going from a closed to an open economy as it steers us on a map to go from being an unsustainable economy to a sustainable economy. If I were to simplify some of the recommendations in the report, it very much emphasises the need to work at a local level in devising the transformation. The report reiterates what the European Commission and others have been promoting in Open Innovation 2.0, which has four strands of co-operation, between the State, which is centrally involved, business, academia and local communities and citizens. I mention this because it is how our recovery will work. It will start from the bottom up and it is important that we support small and local businesses in particular. Working with universities, the State, local people and agencies of the State we can and will turn around the economy in a way that uses the solidarity we have shown in response to this crisis. This is what we need to do.

This relates first and foremost to the health system. What we have seen in how we have managed our health system over the past two months is an example of how, with innovation, we can be good at this. The fact we have turned around our health system very quickly and have been able to build new extra capacity in ways we never thought we could have done in the timelines we have done is an example of such innovation. We also have the use of digital technology and I recall the Taoiseach stating recently how online clinics are now being done in a way they had not been done previously.

We should maintain that capability. The fact that, as we introduce contact tracing apps, we have to have the trust and confidence of our people that this is really good digital innovation is going to be critical for managing the continuing suppression of the virus. I am sorry if this sounds slightly abstract but the ability to innovate and to involve our local communities, businesses, universities and the State in such a four-stranded approach to innovation is going to be the key to recovery. That starts more than anything else with collaboration in the political space, and co-operation with our local governments and all our parties so that we are all in that collaborative, innovative approach to the recovery ahead of us.

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