Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask what is going on as regards communications with NPHET. I do not want to use the phrase “gag” but that seems to be what it is. Now, all communication has to go through the Government Information Service, GIS. If that is the way the Taoiseach wants to do things, that is fine, but he is responsible for that because it reports to him and GIS is in his Department. Why is this change happening now as regards the process by which NPHET communicates with the public? The Taoiseach is responsible for it, but why now? Is it because of what happened last Thursday in regard to information coming out from a NPHET meeting before the Government made the decision? If it is, just say so.

I have a concern. The Government makes decisions and has to make the ultimate communications, but there are times when we have to hear directly from public health experts in regard to specifics. We have a storm going on outside. With all due respect to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I would rather hear from Evelyn Cusack and Met Éireann as regards the direction of that storm than from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage because there is a very specific need. I say that in jest but we are also in the middle of a pandemic.

There are specific needs as regards information that has to be communicated. Going through GIS in order to have to make media appearances is worrying from a transparency point of view.

The Taoiseach needs to clear this up because, from my perspective and from that of the Labour Party, the main confusion over the past week has not been from NPHET but from the Government. When it came to antigen testing, the Government indicated there were going to be subsidies but then all of a sudden the Minister announced on television that there would not be. A missive was sent out at 6.15 p.m. on Tuesday last regarding masks being mandatory. There was a U-turn on Monday because I challenged the Government in the Dáil on the legality of this for principals. In some cases, principals were unwilling to do it. That changed as a result. There were changes in respect of those arriving into the country. Aer Lingus informed the country that a change had taken place between Friday and Sunday as regards the requirement for PCR and antigen tests on arrival. We see a pattern here.

I also raised the issue of the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and Ministers were touting different schemes until yesterday when the Minister for Social Protection gave us some, but not all, the information. We now know that information will not be fully out there until Thursday or Friday. We have the issues of HEPA filters, and I agree with the previous speaker that this has been going on forever. I have no understanding whatsoever as to why this has not been put forward and dealt with.

I want to ask the Taoiseach the following questions. Who is responsible for the change in policy of how NPHET is to communicate with the public on specific public health issues? Why was that decided? Does the Taoiseach accept that it is Ministers and their failures as regards communication that have created the omnishambles over the five issues I have pointed out in the past week alone? For those workers who are so impacted by the restrictions that have been brought about, including those who are servicing the hospitality industry - taxi drivers and others - what bespoke measures will be put in place in order to support them during this difficult time?

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