Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, who is a regular visitor, although probably not as regular as he used to be. The pandemic is now something we are living with as opposed to trying to deal with on an emergency basis.

I would like to mention a funny thing that I have noticed from my empirical engagement with people. There is no scientific basis for this. People who are getting Covid-19 now are getting quite sick. I note the Minister's predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Harris, was quite sick with it. Quite a number of people I have engaged with have been quite sick with it. Many Members of the Oireachtas who got it, like the Minister, Deputy Harris, were quite sick with it. It has most definitely not gone away. Certainly, the public awareness in terms of following public health guidelines has dramatically reduced. Empirical evidence is that hand sanitiser dispensers at supermarkets and other public areas are more often empty than they are full. I agree with the principle of continuing public health and public awareness campaigns. They will have to continue.

The announcement by the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, this morning of a fourth booster dose for vulnerable adults is long overdue. To be frank, it should have happened sooner than this. I cannot understand why NIAC is so slow in making its recommendations. We all knew that people had to get a booster vaccine six, eight or ten months ago. Yet, it took NIAC longer than it should have to come with a recommendation on that. We are going to have a conversation about how this kind of advice is coming. NIAC is independent, but vaccinations are happening in other countries. We are not unique. It is going to come to us as well.

I do not know how we are going to manage or deal with this as we go forward. Perhaps we can reconstitute NIAC or join NIAC with a newly defined NPHET. We need to have a debate and conversation on public health and pandemic planning going forward. That can only really be done against the backdrop of a public inquiry into this country’s handling of the pandemic. I believe such an inquiry will endorse the work done by this Government and its predecessor. Per head of population, the number of fatalities - the number of people who tragically lost their lives to Covid-19 - in this country is among the lowest in the European Union. We actually fare pretty well in terms of an international comparison worldwide. It is down to the people. Our handling of this has been about saving lives.

Two years ago, when Covid-19 was raging, people followed the social distancing guidelines and stayed at home. I think it was this week two years ago that the 2 km requirement was introduced. That was done to save lives. People bought into it to save lives, and it worked. That said, we must remember the 5,000 or 6,000 people in this country who lost their lives to Covid-19. That cannot be forgotten. The memorial that took place a couple of weeks ago, on the Sunday after St. Patrick’s Day, was very poignant, appropriate and dignified.

I was at the Joint Committee on Health this morning. I think it was the first time we had Paul Reid and Robert Watt in that we were not actually talking about Covid-19. We were talking about other issues, but Covid-19 needs to be continuously on the agenda. It cannot be off the agenda. Thankfully this fourth wave has now subsided but we need periodically to recalibrate the public mindset to remind people we are living with what is the residue of a pandemic.