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

On the specific response to the issue of the temporary assistance payment and the funding issue, we have to accept that when a global pandemic of this scale emerges, which is once in a hundred years, lessons have to be learned from it. There should be comprehensive reviews of everything that took place, but with a view to learning lessons and not trying to damn people or apportion particular blame. The exercise has to be about learning lessons, because if it happens again, we need to be able to respond better and more effectively. We do not want future public health officials or public servants hamstrung by the fact that there may be another inquiry conducted into what they are doing in the middle of a crisis.

All international responses to crises have this is a basic standard, that we look back to evaluate and learn and ensure that those lessons are applied to future pandemics and crises. That is the general philosophy and one that I would have. That said, the fact that senior people raised those concerns is a worry, although the system did respond. The biggest issue early on was personal protective equipment, PPE. Public health officials will still say that it may not necessarily have been visitors coming into the nursing homes that was the primary conduit or cause of the transmission of the virus and that there were other factors as well. The current testing is beginning to throw some light on that also at the moment.

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