Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for making herself available at such short notice which, in itself, is a strong statement of how seriously she is taking this situation. I have heard her assurances in that regard and that she is closely monitoring the situation in Cahirsiveen. I congratulate her on her forthright response and willingness to act.

It has been, no doubt, a very difficult time for the residents in the Skellig Star Hotel and the concerns they have raised are particularly upsetting. The pandemic has been a time when the expectations and hopes of the entire country were suddenly arrested and we were thrust into an unknown world, filling us all with apprehension. The necessary sudden and dramatic suspension of anything that resembled normality as a result of the virus, culminating in the lockdown, while life-saving and absolutely the right action to take, has undoubtedly left a scar on our national psyche. Facing into this pandemic, we were all left with a sense of helplessness, facing an unknown and fearful enemy-----