Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

There is one vital piece of information I do not think was contained in the Minister's answer and that I would be interested in getting, that is, how many of the crèches and other childcare facilities have HEPA filters installed. That is key information the Government and the Minister absolutely must have. We know from Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HSPC, figures released this week that there were 251 outbreaks of Covid in childcare settings during waves 4 and 5 and that seven of those outbreaks took place in the first four weeks of this year. The figures I have got from the hospitals state that in Temple Street hospital there are 25 children under five compared with nine children aged five to 11 and that in Crumlin there are 60 children aged between zero and five compared with 24 between six and 11. We know that temperatures are likely to drop again in winter. In circumstances in which there is no filtration, the only protection people have is to have the windows wide open, whereas with filtration systems the windows still need to be open but can be open less wide and for a shorter time while maintaining minimum temperatures.

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