Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Both of these issues are too serious to use the kick-to-touch approach. I did give the Minister notice about these issues.

How can the Minister defend a situation where 62,000 people are coming into the country, many of them coming from countries or states which have high rates of the virus, and that of those only 2,000 are actually followed up comprehensively by the Department of Justice and Equality? The Minister said he was going to find out what is happening. The Department of Justice and Equality is clear. It is awaiting hand-over to the Minister's Department to take responsibility for this.

It is not good enough to say we are going to do something at some point in the future. The numbers coming into the airport are increasing rapidly. In the absence of a proper hand-over to the Department of Health, the country is actually being exposed to high risk. We cannot afford that. The priority has to be to open our schools and open up businesses completely. We cannot continue to have a situation where high-risk situations at our airports are not dealt with. This is going to put everything else in jeopardy unless the Minister and his Department ensure there is proper follow-up. Suggesting that something is going to happen in the future by putting a form online is simply not good enough.

We are also told that next week we are going to be asked to approve testing at airports. Who is responsible for that? Surely that is not the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Minister needs to give us an assurance today that he is not going to continue to allow the country to be exposed to this level of risk and that his Department will take its responsibilities seriously, get its act together and ensure there are adequate numbers of follow-up calls.

On the second question, it is simply not good enough to say the Minister does not know. Either the €20 million cut is going ahead to disability services or it is not. The Minister has given an assurance previously. His predecessor has given an assurance. On the ground, however, the HSE is telling those organisations that the cuts are going ahead. Will the Minister give clarity to both those issues?

See this speech in context