Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his kind words at the start. I really do hope we will all work together; it does not mean we always have to agree. Sorting out the healthcare system and making sure we get that care is something we all agree on. I am sure we will disagree on some of the hows and whens and so forth. I broadly agree with what the Deputy is saying. Like him, we listen to the doctors and the people who really know what they are talking about and they are saying, "face masks, face masks, face masks". They absolutely are. I want to agree with the broad sentiment as we all do in getting that message out.

The National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, provided guidance on face coverings in its advice to Government on the roadmap for reopening business and society. I am just going to go through it here. The NPHET advice sets out circumstances under which wearing of a non-medical face mask, which I think we are both talking about, is recommended. These include using busy public transport and we have regulations coming forward very shortly to put that on a statutory basis. I share the Deputy's concern that it has to be mandatory. There has been incredible compliance across the country. Look at how many people today have downloaded the tracker app. There is incredible buy-in. When we have a clear message and strong leadership, I think we will see the solidarity. We are putting public transport on a statutory footing for exactly the issues the Deputy has raised. Other circumstances set out by NPHET are when in indoor public areas such as retail, places of worship, cinemas and so forth; when visiting the homes of those who are cocooning; by people who are being visited in their homes by those who are cocooning; all visitors to residential care facilities; and indoor work environments where it is difficult to maintain a 2 m distance. That is something we can do here and probably on a night like tonight could have done without the restricted seating in the Chamber.

It is important to emphasise that the wearing of face coverings is an additional hygiene measure. It does not take the place of all of the other things that have to be done as well such as respiratory etiquette, washing our hands and so forth. They need to be worn properly in line with guidance. We have to wash our hands before putting them on and taking them off. The current NPHET recommendation is that the focus should be on increasing compliance, which is exactly what we are talking about, within the current recommendations for use. On 15 June, as the Deputy mentioned, my predecessor, Deputy Harris, along with the then Tánaiste and the National Transport Authority, NTA, launched a national communications campaign which outlines best practice for using the masks. The campaign is communicating on who should wear the masks in what settings and how to wear and remove the face coverings correctly.

In response to the Deputy's point on the Government distributing face masks, at present we do not have a plan to distribute face masks for a variety of what I think are quite sensible reasons. It is something we can keep under review. I think the Deputy nailed the issue in his opening statement. It is about compliance and about saying that on public transport it is the law and has to be done, so that one cannot by law take public transport without it. We have to get the message home on compliance. I am certainly open to considering if we need another push and if there are other ways. I am very much looking at where it is and is not working so there may be some very targeted communications in that respect. The face coverings are readily available in a lot of different places such as retail outlets, supermarkets, convenience stores, petrol stations and pharmacies. We can get them online. There is guidance on how to make them on the HSE website. I welcome the increasing trend in the numbers reporting they are wearing the coverings. According to the public opinion tracking research, it is currently 45% so maybe that provides a benchmark.

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