Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy does not need to make an FOI request in order to obtain the Government's strategy on Covid-19. He is aware that the roadmap for living with Covid-19 was published a number of months ago and we are now at level 5 of that roadmap in the context of suppressing the numbers. The numbers are falling steeply but there is enormous pressure on our hospitals.

As already stated, our policy is clear. It is a policy that involves prolonged suppression of the virus and getting the numbers down and keeping them there. We will be assisted in that regard with the roll-out of the vaccination programme. So far, we have been in a position to vaccinate the residents of nursing homes and the staff who work in long-term healthcare facilities, as well as up to 78,000 front-line healthcare workers. The next phase will be to complete the first dose of all front-line healthcare workers. We have commenced administering the second dose in 27 nursing homes. That is a key part of our approach to managing and suppressing the virus. That is why the level 5 restrictions have been extended to 5 March. People have responded to those restrictions and their response is driving down the numbers. That will help to relieve the pressure on the front-line healthcare workers who are doing extraordinary work in our hospitals and intensive care units.

The possibility of a zero Covid-19 strategy has been discussed. We have never received public health advice to pursue a such a strategy. We debated the matter in this House and views were expressed. However, the implications of such a strategy have never been fleshed out. I am willing to debate it at any time in the context of the period for which the country would need to be locked down. New Zealand will be locking down for a further 12 months. That is its decision but its geography is somewhat different.

The Deputy talks about the all-island strategy as if it is all the Dublin Government's fault. That is a false and untrue fallback position that has no substance. The Dublin Government does not run the Northern Ireland Executive. There are five parties on that Executive and they have taken their decisions over time in respect of Covid-19. The two chief medical officers have agreed a memorandum of understanding and they engage with each other. We have had meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council and I have spoken on a number of occasions to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister on alignment. The Deputy knows the political issues in the North as well as I do but he does not call them out either because it suits him and others to blame the Dublin Government for everything. That tends to be the fallback position when, as he knows, the reality is different.

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