Results 11,161-11,180 of 11,413 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: 579. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a bespoke support scheme will be provided for private bus and coach operators affected by the Covid-19 lockdown; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10172/20]

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: We received correspondence from Mr. Jim Breslin regarding this committee's request concerning oversight of secondary legislation. I am disappointed in what Mr. Breslin has written. He states that he has consulted with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris and essentially tells this committee that he is not going to engage with us regarding pre-scrutiny. Mr. Breslin points to the fact that...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: That is fine.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: What is the order of questioning in the first round?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: That is correct.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe. Can the witnesses give us a sense of where we are at with the planning? I thank the witnesses again for being here. I know they are incredibly busy men. I will start by asking Dr. De Gascun to give us a sense of how good our information is to date. Yesterday, the Department confirmed that we had nine new Covid-19 cases. That is a great number...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: The number of new cases from yesterday is almost irrelevant to my question. I am asking if we now know where there are clusters and can we be fairly confident that clusters will not emerge somewhere that the National Virus Reference Laboratory does not know about at the moment?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Meat factories.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Is there any other particular sector? We have seen the evidence that was released in recent weeks on the meat factories. Is there any other sector or particular type of workplace that is raising concerns with the National Virus Reference Laboratory?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: I gather that whatever number of reported and confirmed cases there are, there is an X number of other likely cases. At one stage there was a suggestion that there could be as many as four times the number of cases as those that had been confirmed. Do we have a sense of what the X number is now? In other words, how many cases of Covid-19 have there been that we do not know about but that...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Before I allow Professor Nolan to add something, if he wishes to do so, there are some anomalies in terms of outbreaks. The counties of Cavan and Monaghan have had fairly high instances, proportionally. I think Cavan has the highest, Monaghan the third highest. The reason many people find this unusual is that, internationally, it appears that the greatest concentrations of cases are...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Does Professor Nolan have any information in this regard?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: One other person.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Louth and Meath stand between us, though.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Is it something Professor Nolan is examining?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Professor Nolan has spoken about the second wave. I think he has used the word "probable" or "possible". Would both Dr. De Gascun and Professor Nolan agree - I would like a yes-no answer - that the success of ensuring such a second wave does not become overwhelming will be in large part reliant on our ability to have a sufficient test, trace and isolate regime in place?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Accepting that, and almost leaving that aside, does Dr. De Gascun agree that testing and tracing will be important moving forward?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: Is Dr. De Gascun satisfied that the current testing and tracing system that is in place is sufficient for whatever might come down the line?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: I have two questions. I will try to be as brief as possible. Perhaps Professor Nolan might be the best person to answer whether we have any reliable data on excess deaths for the period since March. In Britain they have released those figures in recent days. Do we have a sense of what they are for Ireland yet?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Reopening the Economy: Public Health Advice (9 Jun 2020)

Matt Carthy: My final question is to both speakers. Reference was made to the letter that scientists wrote to Government yesterday. Many people have taken an interest in it. One notable thing from that letter was its stark call for an all-Ireland approach to be adopted in whatever measures are adopted. We have seen some rhetoric to that end. Are Dr. De Gascun and Professor Nolan satisfied that the...