Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle agus cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire.

I greatly welcome the publication two weeks ago of the roadmap for living alongside Covid-19. Covid-19 has placed great demands on every one of us, as individuals, parents, families, workers and indeed business owners. The overall aim of this plan is to keep schools and crèches open in as many of these scenarios as possible. The Government prioritised that schools would remain open. We are all well aware that children depend crucially on education and learning. I recognise the great amount of work undertaken to make this possible.

The reopening of international travel formed a key part of this plan. The aviation industry is one of the industries that has been most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. All airlines have suffered a severe depletion of revenue and are now facing significant financial challenges. I recently attended a briefing at Cork Airport where I was told that the passenger numbers there had declined by 95% due to Covid-19. Its impact on Cork Airport is expected to see the loss of over 2 million passengers this year and more than €23 million in lost revenue by year end.

Ireland’s approach to international travel has sought to protect public health. This has certainly been the correct approach in the earlier phases of the pandemic. It is now time to find a reasonable balance that combines public health requirements with those of a functioning economy. The Aviation Recovery Task Force published its final report recently and it contained several recommendations relating to the provision of further support to the industry. The European Commission has also published a proposal to promote a common approach to travel restrictions and movement within the EU. The Minister has previously stated that work is required to develop these recommendations into effective interventions and that this work is well underway. I ask that the Minister and his Department make this an urgent priority and would appreciate an update or general timeframe as to when these interventions will be in place. The importance of Cork Airport to our economy and to the region cannot be underestimated. I want to ensure that Cork Airport’s interests are to the forefront of this Government’s agenda.

On a totally different topic I will talk about messaging. I compliment the Minister and his Department in tackling in recent months what has been a national crisis. I understand the key messaging regarding the Covid-19 tracker app and the various tools that he has at his disposal. I urge that we look at other countries in Europe, such as Belgium, France and Germany, and even countries in Asia such as India, in order to complement our own Covid-19 tracker app, with a specific messaging service, be it through WhatsApp or through mobile providers. If messaging was made directly into people’s individual mobile phones every day or couple of days, with specific problems or problem areas highlighted and specific messaging around identifying cases and so on, this would be of great benefit.

Another point is regarding the local electoral area, LEA, breakdown and the figures that are available on the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, website. The data on this website is updated every Thursday, so we will be waiting to have it uploaded later today, based on last week’s figures. Every week there is some chaos, as people are asking are we going into lockdown. Is the city, in the case of Cork, or the county, going into lockdown, or are both? I point people towards the HPSC website to look at their LEA but I urge the Minister and the Government, with a county the size of Cork which equates to the size of four or five counties, to consider seriously this point in future area specific lockdowns, be it urban or LEA. This needs to be looked at. I thank the House.

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