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

I did not ask the Taoiseach to have the discussion about different strategies here. I am saying that a situation needs to be created where we can have that open discussion, where we are prepared to be open and frank and face up to the serious problems and challenges in testing and tracing. We need a forum to ask are we adequately resourced and ready for rapid test technology. Is it right that the HSE should be expected to manage testing and tracing while it is running the health service and coping with the demands of Covid? Can we trace the places where the virus is being transmitted? Is there potential for an all-Ireland approach to this?

What can we do about importation? All of those things need to be discussed, not just thrown out here in this adversarial setting. We need to have proper discussion about the pros and cons of different strategies and how we are going to move forward in the medium and longer term in managing this virus.

I do not expect a reply today but I ask the Taoiseach to give consideration to facilitating cross-party discussion of the approach to managing the virus. What is happening at the moment is not working. We need to reinforce the immediate messages because they are the only way we can drive down the critical figures now. That is not sustainable, however. I ask the Taoiseach to consider a cross-party approach to this issue.

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