David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Several Members here attended the committee hearing with the head of testing and tracing. There was much spin beforehand in terms of the public commentary from Ministers and even the press statements from the Government that we would see an additional 800 tracers. As it turns out, it was to bring us to 800. We were going to go from 581 to 800.

We were told by the head of testing and tracing at the committee that the number needed to ensure we had a safe service, according to the metric used, was 800. At that point, we were in the middle of a second wave with 1,200 cases a day at its height. We were left only with 581 tracers, however. How did that happen? It happened on the Minister's watch because he did not use the summer months to recruit the staff necessary to ensure we had at least sufficient capacity.

I do not buy it even that 800 would be enough. The Minister must not leave us exposed again. When we get the numbers down, we must have a testing and tracing system that we can use to hunt down Covid, to keep ahead of it and that we do not lose control in the way we lost control this time.

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