Results 4,281-4,300 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: I would like to ask a couple of questions around airport testing. I note the officials' position on airport testing and their concern that there would be false negatives. How do they square that with other European countries which have seen transmission rates fall substantially and that have been allowing people in? In the case of Vienna airport, they have been allowing people in since...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: What does Mr. Towey mean by "not as good"? Have they not lost a lot fewer people per capita?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Will Mr. Spratt explain the parameters for developing the green list?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: That is the number of diagnoses per 100,000?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Not the percentage of people who test positive. Obviously, I would have thought Russia has a very low number per 100,000 of population diagnosed because it does not carry out much testing. Why is Russia not on the list? What if a country does no testing? I ask this because Donald Trump has suggested that testing be reduced in the United States of America because too many positives were...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Will Mr. Spratt explain further? I am a little confused about territories such as Gibraltar, for example. Is Monaco on the list? If I am not mistaken, the only way to get to Monaco is through France or through Italy. Gibraltar, however, is pretty hard to get to from Ireland unless one goes through Spain. Yet, it appears there is no concern if a person goes through Spain. Obviously, it...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Having Gibraltar and Monaco on the list is largely illusory unless someone rows there in a boat or-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: I thank Mr. Spratt for clarifying that. With regard to the list, freedom of movement is a right under EU law but, as with all rights, it is subject to the common good and public health considerations. I would have thought that any restriction must be proportionate and pursuant to law. Is it fair to suggest, as some earlier witnesses did, that what Ireland has determined to be proportionate...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: If Mr. Spratt does not wish to comment on the basis that this is a matter of Government policy, I ask him to say so.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Has the Department sought or received legal advice on whether it should be made pursuant to a law? I am not asking Mr. Spratt to outline what the legal advice is but whether the Department has sought or received legal advice on that question.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: I am referring in particular to the many practical barriers that are being put in place for people travelling. I am not second-guessing the Department's determination, which is proportionate. I asked whether it is out of kilter with the rest of the European Union, which it would appear to be. It is implicit in what Mr. Spratt said that we have adopted a more cautious approach. The...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: To be clear, if an employee of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport decides that he or she is going to a country that is on the green list and returns from that country with their family on a Sunday, is it correct that that person can go to work on the Monday morning?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: If one arrives in from Portugal or Spain, for example, on a Sunday, is it correct that that person cannot go to work on a Monday morning?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: I understand the advice but what I am getting at is the difference between advice and law. If the person is advised not go to work on the Monday morning, and this may be a selfish thing for the person to do, but the person may say that he or she wants to go to work on the Monday morning as the family has to be fed. They have just been on an expensive holiday for which the family has saved...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: What happens if the employee does not take leave?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: What if the employee says that he or she would love to take leave but cannot afford to as the person needs to go to work to support his or her family and does not have any leave left for that year. What happens then?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: What happens in Mr. Towey’s Department? I appreciate that he cannot answer for the entire public service but what happens if the person is an employee of the Minister of Transport, Tourism and Sport?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Is there a lawful basis to-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: That is rather vague, but I will take Mr. Spratt’s word on it. Returning to another point, Mr. Spratt does not appear to have any confidence in testing on arrival. We are slightly out of kilter with some other EU countries in that regard. Mr. Spratt nonetheless says that he is looking at departure-point testing. How would he differentiate between the accuracy of departure-point...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Impact on Public Transport (Resumed) (24 Jul 2020)

Michael McNamara: Is Mr. Towey saying he would be concerned that introducing testing in Ireland would be a disincentive to people travelling to Ireland? Is it not the purpose of red lists, green lists and all of this to have a disincentive to travel? We have all of this confused messaging about a requirement to quarantine, no requirement to quarantine, it might be possible to quarantine, and we actually...