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

I will turn to antigen testing and Covid-19. We are going through different phases of Covid-19 and learning all along the way. The vaccination programme has been very successful and it is because of that that the country is still open. The majority of those who end up in ICU are unvaccinated, and most of those who are vaccinated have underlying conditions. Consequently, making sure that those who are immunocompromised and who have underlying conditions get vaccinated first is essential. I cannot overstate the importance of that because it will reduce hospitalisation and ICU admission over time. It should be remembered, however, that this is not just about the health service; it is about genuinely wanting to prevent people from getting very sick and dying. That has to be the fundamental objective of public health policy. When I say "different phases", I mean we have got a lot done - a crude lot because we did not know this virus at first and there was a lot of uncertainty. We got a second lot done with the Alpha variant. In both cases there was no vaccination and no inherent protection against the virus. The immunity that vaccination provides against serious illness and against mortality is strong, not so much against infection. The booster will give us added protection. We have to try to arrive at an equilibrium that keeps open and protects what we have open while reducing or putting a lid on the number of people getting sick. The Chief Medical Officer put it very well yesterday when he said the thousands of people who could get Covid next month under current modelling do not have to get it. That just means all of us collectively reducing our socialisation. We can turn that modelling in a better direction and reduce the pressures on the health service. The health service is under pressure from other issues. For example, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, and other respiratory diseases, not Covid, have been the biggest factor in children being admitted to hospital. Most people in paediatric hospitals will say that.

We had widened the deployment of antigen testing. There have been public health issues.The public health chiefs have concerns about the widespread use of antigen tests. I put that on the record, to be fair. I support the use of antigen testing and its increased use. There is concern about its use in a proper way, that is, doing it while one is asymptomatic. The evidence in the research shows that many people are not using antigen tests in the most optimal way. A significant, comprehensive communications campaign on antigen testing will be needed. We have widened the scheme. Some 3,000 people per day are now receiving antigen tests, in line with public health policy as to close contacts. Approximately half a million tests have been distributed across all sectors. There have been approximately 100,000 tests used by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine alone, in meat plants and so on. They are being deployed in third level colleges. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, took out a private initiative some time ago on that deployment. Antigen tests will be rolled out in education settings. We will also work with childcare settings in that respect.

The HSE’s antigen test portal has been set up because it wants people to feed antigen test results to it. We did set up the independent expert group. Indeed, Professor Mary Horgan was on national radio today and she made similar points. We also will be providing a wider distribution of antigen testing across society. I believe the way antigen testing has evolved has been positive, effective and targeted with outcomes. However, antigen testing is not the silver bullet, by any means. It is just a supplemental tool. The PCR tests remain the gold standard. We did approximately 196,000 PCR tests in the last seven days and antigen testing can be a useful supplement to that. As the booster campaign is rolling out, we will reduce the risk to those most at risk of admission to hospitals. We will reduce their vulnerability by the roll-out of the booster itself. We depend on the roll-out of the booster on the national immunisation advisory committee.

All of us, as politicians, can get frustrated. We have our views. We, like anybody else, can look at the situation and say “they should do that, they should do this”. Yet, we should be careful to protect the edifice. When I say the edifice, I mean the different layers of decision-making that has protected us from the outset of the pandemic. At the outset, all political parties were in agreement. I was in opposition at the time, albeit that was during an interim period, the interregnum between the election and the formation of the Government. I was clear that public health had to be at the centre of the country's response to the pandemic. We can have 101 opinions in society but if we do not have a central pillar or an edifice to get us through this, we will end up dividing all over the place. That does not mean that centrality of public health advice is God or anything like that, but it has to be respected.

Likewise, on the national immunisation advisory committee, we may be impatient or may want faster outcomes but what ultimately gives the vaccination programme the confidence that people have in it, is that it is not the politicians who decide that people should want to get vaccinated, because, for instance, we politicians think vaccination works, so off you go and get vaccinated. Rather, it is an independent scientific body that decides. That is crucial for the doctors and medical professionals who administer vaccines. They will not administer vaccines on the whim of a political order or edict. However, they will do it when they have the authoritative authorisation of their peers. Therefore, NIAC, public health, NPHET and the Government have to work collectively and with one message. It is important that we do not undermine the edifice too much. Ultimately, it is that pillar that underpins the entire approach to pandemic so far. Of course, we can improve. Of course, we can do better. However, in my view, we will get through this pandemic, this phase and this fourth surge. It is welcome that antivirals, medicines and therapeutics are coming. They are now being authorised by European Medicines Agency, EMA. That is welcome. Over time, we will have to live with Covid-19. However, we will have far better responses, combinations of vaccines and medicines, behaviours and so forth.

A range of other issues were raised. I get the forestry and agriculture issues. On planning, the Attorney General has taken on a huge task in a fundamental overhaul of the planning code, to streamline it to ensure we can go one layer from council, to An Bord Pleanála, to judicial review, to the courts and to Europe. We need to streamline it. Communities, of course, have to be at the heart of planning but planning cannot go on for years either. Let us be clear about that. There have been serial objections across the board to a lot of the forestry applications. We need commercial afforestation. We also need native woodlands to a far greater extent. We need to incentivise that more. We need to create new income streams for farmers for the growing of native trees on their farms. They have to become the guardians of our biodiversity but they have to be rewarded for doing that.

The Commission on the Defence Forces and their future is an important piece of work. I am concerned about it. The backbone of any country is its defence forces. I mean this in the widest possible way. The Defence Forces came out at the very beginning of Covid-19. Their logistical know-how and above all their peacekeeping credentials have brought great honour to the country. They have enabled to Ireland to have its own distinct role in international affairs around conflict prevention and peacekeeping itself. We have taken a leadership role in that respect, particularly in gender-based conflict. We take a human rights-based approach to complex situations and humanitarian corridors.

Different remarks were made about Europe. I am passionate about our European membership and about our UN membership. It is extremely important that we celebrate those as a country. At the core of that is our enterprise agenda. The biggest decision we took was in the 1960s, when we decided to open out. We were too inward and too protectionist. We opened out. There is a huge Single Market. We have a lot of know-how. We have to sell our goods and services to the world, as a small island. I also think we can bring our values toward as well.

I think I have been going on for too long, a Chathaoirligh. I take on board everything that has been said. I have noted every constituency issue or road project that was identified-----