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

I thank Deputy Murphy for the series of questions raising very real concerns and issues relating to people from the Deputy's county, the impact of the lockdowns and the whole situation around high-risk areas such as meat plants, which to a large extent represented the perfect storm in the spread of the virus, and related issues.

Again, the decision to intervene in the three counties by bringing in severe restrictions was necessitated by advice from the public health doctors. I was in regular and almost daily contact with the acting Chief Medical Officer when numbers were going up during the summer. NPHET felt that utilising this method and this tool, restricted to three counties, could yield results as a short, sharp mechanism to bring down the numbers. This has worked. The public health people are adamant that this has worked. Those who model these numbers are adamant that the measure has worked. It did, however, have a price. We know at first hand that the people who took a lot on board, including hoteliers and many people involved in providing employment, endured a lot. Lessons can be learned from it. I do not like the idea of closing down an entire county. Most politicians and most of those in government would avoid it. It is easier to avoid having to do these things and having to make these decisions rather than doing them. The lessons are important and will form part of the plan I spoke of earlier. Testing and tracing are essential in enabling us to live with the virus. The Deputy was briefed yesterday.

We arranged a briefing for Opposition leaders with the acting CMO and others. Serial testing is now under way in the three counties in respect of meat plants. The positivity rate is at about 0.5% but of course the virus can spread at any time. We could finish that serial testing programme and the following week a person could go in to work with Covid-19 and spread it. We need constant pressure on the virus through the testing and tracing mechanisms. That, to me, is key.

We also have to look at the entire meat processing industry from end to end. I refer not just to the workplace itself but to the accommodation, its nature and quality as well as transport to and from work. These cannot be seen as three separate pieces but as a continuum. While the rate might be 0.5% in the serial testing programme, somewhere else along that continuum, either in terms of transport arrangements or housing, the virus could be developing again and could come into the factory, where it can spread very quickly because of the conditions that pertain in meat factories.

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