Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Today, the WHO announced an additional 338,000 Covid-19 infections worldwide, which is the single greatest one-day increase in the virus since it came to be less than a year ago. We are living under very serious level 3 designations throughout this country and have been living with them in Dublin and Donegal for some time. There are serious restrictions in place and we understand that. Paul Reid was on the "Six One" news tonight and NPHET, the Government and the HSE are all in agreement that this is a time of great concern. The public are also greatly concerned. Since cases started to creep back up in mid-August, there has been a sense of impending doom and dread that we are being pulled back towards a number of cases that will lead our health service into real distress, if not crisis. Many people have been tested and many have been found to be positive. People have again started to die in increasing numbers. Yet here we are at the last knockings of a weekly Dáil sitting, discussing the fallout from yet another episode of absolute calamity based on the failing or flawed relationships at the top of our Government. We are partaking in some kind of Agatha Christie type mystery as to who said what, when, to who and why.

As I was preparing for this debate today, I wondered whether we needed to discuss this because my constituents, family and friends are all looking forward and asking where are we going next. However, we need to discuss what happened last weekend and get some answers because it will have massive implications for the confidence the people have in the Minister, NPHET, the Taoiseach, and the Tánaiste, who I believe has played a particularly foul role in this sad mini-affair in the midst of this awful crisis. The credibility of those at the peak of the Government is at stake.

In the Minister's statement, he said he received a text from the CMO around lunchtime on Saturday saying he was calling a meeting for Sunday. The Minister then texted the Taoiseach. However, he did not call the CMO until Sunday morning. He says it is not unusual for NPHET to call unscheduled meetings but this was Tony Holohan, coming back to work two days early. He is a titan of this pandemic who has more trust from the public than all of us in this Chamber, present or absent, put together. He was coming back and he was calling a meeting. Why did the Minister of State not call him on Saturday? My inclination would have been to pick up the phone and have a conversation with him. It sounds like the Minister got that text and texted the Taoiseach. That might seem a relatively minor thing but it is an important point. Then, late Sunday afternoon or in the evening, the Minister was informed through videoconference that NPHET was recommending level 5. When did the Minister see this infamous letter? Was it before, during, or after that video call? It was the leaking of that letter that caused absolute panic among the public, as whoever leaked it should have known.

In a press conference today, the Taoiseach gave the Minister the dreaded vote of confidence. We all know what that means in a sporting framework. He also said, as regards the leaking of this letter, that NPHET is a large committee made up of many people. He basically said that someone from NPHET leaked the letter. NPHET is a wide committee with many people on it, which is why I believe that not many people on NPHET would have seen that letter.

There is no way, in that time, that that letter was drafted and circulated to more than 40 people for approval before it got to the Minister. That is just not credible. That letter would have been drafted by the CMO and perhaps one or two other people and sent to the Minister and perhaps his senior staff. Does the Minister share the Taoiseach's belief that this was leaked from NPHET? If so, given the gravity of this leak, is an investigation under way to find out who leaked it? If not, why not? Does the Minister disagree with the Taoiseach and have a different view? Is he willing to state categorically that the leak did not come from his side of the desk?

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