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

In fairness, the Minister and the Government have given this issue much of our attention. It is an issue that continues to come through my constituency office. It probably comes through the Deputy's office too. I sympathise with the lived experience of people who have to sit in a car park when they should be at the side of their partner being scanned, attending an appointment or giving birth to a child.

As matters stand, as the Deputy will be aware, 90% of adults are now fully vaccinated in Ireland, which is an enormous achievement by us as a society. In that situation, I certainly do not believe it should be necessary for hospitals to ban partners from attending maternity appointments - that is the view of Government and of the HSE - but I will stand over and vindicate the right of the doctors and nurses on the ground to make exceptions because every hospital has a senior nurse in charge of infection control and a senior doctor in charge of infection control and I would be reluctant to overrule them.

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