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

In light of the Minister being brought up to date with the deteriorating position on Saturday and again on Sunday, I presume he was expecting level 4. I will just assume that is case.

This debate was promised by the Taoiseach when a number of us asked for it and he told us he would be present for it. It is a pity he is not. The debate was also rescheduled, as it was supposed to be tomorrow, which would have been better than late on a Thursday night.

There are a couple of general questions I want to ask on the Government's handling of this matter. Why did the Minister change the policy in his Department on the monitoring of incoming travellers at ports and airports? The Minister's Department confirmed last Thursday that the purpose of contacting people who travel into the country was not to monitor them any longer but to check where they were for the purpose of contact tracing. It is a very significant change in policy, which means there is no monitoring of incoming travellers at all. Why is that the case?

I have put my other question to the Taoiseach a number of times. There is a need for unity in the response to what is now a national emergency arising from the pandemic. Why is it the Taoiseach has not taken up the suggestion that an all-party forum should be established so we can have across the board agreement on the right way to deal with the pandemic? This should not be a matter for political disagreement, and the approach and strategy should be based on evidence.

Is the Minister of the view that we need a cross-party approach? Why has no action been taken in this regard? Is the Minister in favour of the suggestion I have made a few times, which is that the Taoiseach should establish a cross-party forum in order to respond to the many aspects of this national emergency?

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