Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. Respectfully, I have no doubt about ours or the Minister of State's intent but he has told me that we are still at design stage. I asked the question of how somebody would even apply. Are we going to log on to a website? Obviously, that has not been decided yet. These are the issues. How will it work? How will Irish citizens apply for a certificate? Who will give it to them?

The Minister of State alluded to the fact that there will be three certificates. Will we go to three different places? Will I go to the HSE to get my vaccination and to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to get my digital certificate? Again, I am not trying to be smart. We are trying to give clarity. I appreciate that he said that it is still at design stage. When does he believe he will be in a position to make a definitive statement and give clear and unambiguous information as to how a person will log on to a certain website or queue outside an office on 18 July?

I feel like I am banging my head off a brick wall trying to get an antigen pilot test done here in order that we can be the equivalent to our European counterparts. In the absence of getting the pilot, the Minister of State alluded to a fund of €100 million from the EU to support the costs of PCR tests. What plans do we have? Will introduce a voucher scheme for Irish travellers be introduced so that when they return to Ireland, they will not have to pay a very expensive cost for PCR testing? Will people be given a voucher to help towards those costs? We are encouraging people who are vaccinated to travel but they may have children who cannot get vaccinated. What will we do to help those people to be able to allow them to reunite their families this summer?