Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Chief Medical Officer is very clear that we have to move to a different phase of the pandemic, that the wholesale testing and tracing regime will no longer apply during the transitionary period and that we have to embed into our existing public health system permanent responses and surveillance of the disease and other diseases. The Sentinel system, for example, which is a GP-based system, will be expanded. We already agreed last year to double the allocation of funding to public health in this country, leading to first-time consultant appointments and also a strengthening of the capacity within public health in terms of personnel. I understand the recruitment has gone well in respect of that. That whole public health system will be key in the surveillance and monitoring of diseases as we go forward.

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