Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's point is well made. I always say that in a pandemic, the easiest thing to do is to shut the country down or to fully reopen it and the hardest thing to do is everything in between because it always involves anomalies and inconsistencies. We will ask NPHET to review two things over the next two weeks. One is how we might safely provide for religious ceremonies over the summer, including christenings, confirmations and communions. We will also ask it to look again at the issue of indoor summer camps and whether they could be done in September with the same precautions as we apply in schools. We have asked NPHET to consider both of those things and advise us on them within the next week or two. The difficulty that we face is that the virus has changed. The Delta variant is different and in the last week or two there has been a surge of cases among children, including secondary school children, teenagers and unvaccinated adults under 35. That is very different from the pandemic we experienced when it started in March 2019. We have to have regard to that too.

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