Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. I am fully aware of his commitment to getting people back playing and watching sport. Obviously, the Minister of State is correct in saying we are at level 5 at present and limited in what we can do. We need to recognise that hope is out there, however. We cannot continue to live with this sense of doom and dread, listening to numbers every evening. Hope is out there in the form of the vaccination. Societally and epidemiologically, we will have changed to a much better place by the time May comes, and more so by June and July. We need to recognise that we need to plan ahead for this.

As the Minister of State said, the Ferguson report referred to fact that we need to use antigen testing for the purpose of getting people back participating in sport but also back watching sport. I agree with that. Obviously, the priority should be to get people playing sport, no matter what type of sport it is, particularly younger people who have been deprived of sport now for nearly four months. I agree with the Minister of State in that respect.

The Minister of State said we need to be guided by public health and that is correct also. We need a vision for the future, however. The Minister of State will regret this just much as I do but it looks like we have lost the UEFA matches from Ireland. I am disappointed about that because it is intended that those matches will take place in June. We need to try to make sure we have a pathway in place to ensure that spectators can get back to sporting events in May, June and July. Those are great months for the GAA in this country as well. We want to see people being able to go the championship and to attend their hurling and football matches, and indeed, other outdoor events. My fear is that unless we give an indication to the sporting bodies that we are behind the proposals in the Ferguson report and that we believe antigen testing is the way to go, we simply will not get there.

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