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

There is a fair degree of caution and concern among the public about what is likely to happen over the next month or so in respect of Covid rates. In that respect, I feel that a lot of the public health messaging is quite weak and needs attention and reinforcement. I prevail upon the Taoiseach to try to get that right because people still do not know what the arrangements are going to be over Christmas. They want to make arrangements and plans at this point and they still do not know what exactly the guidelines and regulations will be covering that period.

I wish to raise an issue with the Taoiseach that I have raised several times over the past nine or ten months. There is potential for a significant increase in the rate of the virus in the area of international travel. We have talked about this several times. For some months we have been in a situation where there is essentially no oversight of the guidelines on international travel. The advice is that one has to self-regulate for a 14-day period and there is no oversight of that whatsoever. We know that text messages go out and there are occasional calls, all with the intention of giving public health advice but nothing to do with oversight or monitoring of that. We also know that there is very little back tracing, so we do not have any reliable data on the extent of the importation of the virus.

In light of the changes to travel arrangements, I wish to ask the Taoiseach about three areas. On the question of people having to have a test before they come here if they are coming from an orange country, or being able to have a test within five days of coming from a red or green country, what is the oversight arrangement for that? I asked the Tánaiste about this a few weeks ago and he said that it may need legal underpinning. Does it need legal underpinning and what is being done about that?

My second question relates to situations where people come here and opt to have a private test after being here for five days. If they test positive, what will the arrangements be for ensuring there is adequate tracing of contacts?

The final area I wish to ask about concerns the revelation in recent days that significant problems are being caused by a lack of communication between the North and here. The loophole that exists whereby people who come through Dublin Airport, or other airports in the Republic, do not have to follow any particular guidelines at all is known as the Dublin dodge. There are implications for us here, but serious implications for the North as well. We know that the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr. Robin Swann, has expressed serious concern about the lack of co-ordination there. We are heading into a period where there is going to be a lot of travel over Christmas and the new year. What safeguards will the Government put in place in that regard?

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