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

Of course I will visit the areas. I did not want to do so during the period of the severe restrictions but we were in touch with the chambers of commerce. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, the Tánaiste and others were in touch with affected people in the three counties and we will continue to engage with them.

On the data hub, the Deputy heard yesterday from the acting CMO that the next uploading of data will be in September. I have asked for greater provision of data. NPHET was very clear that it should be county wide. We asked the same questions that Deputy Murphy has asked, including whether we could lock down selected parts of a county. The team was very clear that the cases were county wide and that we needed to introduce a county-wide lockdown. Of course there are inconsistencies with quite a number of the restrictions. I did not like the restrictions related to sport, particularly when I heard the news that the 200 spectators were gone. I did not jump for joy when I heard that; quite the opposite actually and I would love that to change. What the measures were about, if one thinks about it, is that we wanted people to continue working as best they could within the economy. The restrictions in Kildare, Laois and Offaly were not the same as the lockdown that happened nationally earlier. They were more nuanced but by virtue of that fact, they were perhaps more difficult to communicate.

Although, I will say this much: adherence to public guidelines is up over the past two months. It is significantly up on the position in May and June, which is interesting. People look at the figures and see the rises and so on like that. That said, I will visit. I agree with the Deputy on the data.

On the task force, I want to see what the best mechanism is for getting to grips with this quickly in terms of this industry and other sectors. Direct provision is another area we have to engage with seriously in terms of helping the residents there and ensuring that they are not in centres where disease spreads regularly.

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