Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to be unhelpful, but this session is predominantly on Brexit and its impact. The Deputy has raised some serious issues and I am sure we will have an opportunity to debate both CETA and Mercosur in this House in the months ahead. I certainly hope we will have the opportunity to do so. When it comes to Covid and the strategy we adopt, as we have done for the last year, we will continue to rely on the considerable expertise that our public health team has built up in terms of the advice that it gives us. A Cabinet sub-committee on Covid will meet again on Monday. NPHET and other experts will contribute to that meeting in respect of the approach we should take. There is North-South co-operation on the Covid strategy. It does not always result in agreement on approach, but there is often much agreement. We have what are referred to as "quad meetings" which I attend along with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the First and Deputy First Ministers and both Ministers for Health. We plan to have another quad meeting next week on co-operation on Covid management.

I understand the point the Deputy made about airlines. However, there are not many airlines making vast profits at the moment. I am not aware of the letter mentioned by the Deputy, but I can take the issue up with the Minister for Transport.

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