Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Over the last year, we were repeatedly told that international travel was low risk. That was blown out of the water particularly with the new, more transmissible, UK Covid variant, the prevalence of the virus and the increased loss of life during January. We are aware of two other variants, the South African and Brazil variants, but we do not know what others will emerge. It already looks as though there is a new variant to the UK variant of Covid. It is essential that we consider that when we look to what controls need to be put in place.

About three weeks ago, the Tánaiste told me here that most international travel was essential yet, as the Taoiseach told us this morning, about 60% of travel was Irish people returning from holidays. What I was told was not true. I find it very difficult to rely on information when I am told things that turn out to be untrue.

I ask the Minister where the responsibility for transport lies, particularly international transport. It appears that the Department of Health has a more significant role than the Department of Transport. That seems to be to be at odds given the extent of the risk in respect of transport. The Minister might address that issue.

The Minister replied to a question from Deputy Duncan Smith on the WHO in the context of Ireland not having a competent authority. I believe it was the Department of Health, the HSE and the Department of Transport that were originally involved. Has the HSE been designated? Has the WHO been informed that the executive is the competent authority? If there is an organisation in place, what type of organisation is it? Is it a subset of the HSE?

The Minister talks about transport and this virus. Most of us could go on all day about that because there are so many components to it. One particular component is that the state aid rules have been relaxed in respect of the fiscal treaty. We have seen how that has resulted in high levels of investment by the likes of Germany or France in the airline sector. How is this different to the way it plays out here? The Minister might address that.

With regard to surface transport, additional money has gone into the public service obligation, PSO, for public transport. Does the Minister have any idea of the impact it will have on those companies and their survivability, particularly the non-commercial elements of the routes that normally fall under the PSO levy? Surviving this pandemic will be the key issue and we will require an airline sector, a shipping sector and our public transport systems post Covid-19.

The Minister focused on sustainable transport. In the past day or so, I got a reply to a question on the amount of money that has been allocated to each local authority in this regard. It seems to be demand led in respect of the ability of the local authority to roll out the new cycle ways. In terms of getting to national standards, will the Minister talk to his counterpart in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage about that because it is clear that some local authorities are doing better than others? That may well be down to the local authorities and to staffing, and I believe that is the case in some local authorities, but if we are to have a fair distribution across the country, we cannot have some local authorities not pulling their weight in respect of the rolling out of this or drawing down funds.

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