David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The plan announced today will only be effective if we get testing and tracing right. It will not be worth the paper it is written on if the failures of recent times continue. That is not to say testing has not been happening because it has, but it has not been happening at the rates at which it should be happening and it is not quick enough, despite all the promises that were made. We have been calling for this for some time, but those calls have fallen on deaf ears. We saw what happened in meat plants and we see what is happening in Dublin. Testing and tracing must be used to hunt down this virus. The Government said it could reach 100,000 tests per week by the middle of May. It has not done so. Now the Minister of State talks about hiring more staff. Why were the staff not hired last month, two months ago or three months ago when we were raising these concerns in the Dáil? My party leader raised them directly with the Minister of State's party leader. She also raised them with the Tánaiste when he was Taoiseach, with the Minister for Health and with the previous Minister for Health. It is only now that the Government is getting around to providing the extra capacity. It is not good enough and it undermines confidence in the Government.

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