Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House that children's shoes will be added to the essential retail list? Given the time period of lockdown and retail being closed, everybody knows that this issue is causing serious problems for children in many families, particularly children of a very young age. I ask the Taoiseach to confirm that this issue will be addressed.

Antigen testing is finally being rolled out and I very much welcome it.

The Taoiseach knows I was the first to raise the question of those tests in the House well over six months ago. I do them regularly when going to and from Dublin. Why is the process taking so long and will the Taoiseach outline the process?

Why has the Government now decided to do PCR tests on arrival from airports? My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has been raising this for six or seven months, so what has changed? Will the Taoiseach please inform the House the process by which decisions will be made to add countries to the mandatory hotel quarantine list? It is quite obvious the Minister for Health jumped the gun in announcing that the US and three or four countries from Europe would be included. If I say the Minister for Foreign Affairs was mildly annoyed by that, I am being polite. What is the process for making these decisions, as the current process certainly cannot be used in future?

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