Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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692. To ask the Minister for Health the membership of the NPHET committee from its first meetings on Covid-19 in January 2020 to date; the persons added to the committee and when in each case; the reason for their inclusion; and the record of attendance of such persons at subsequent meetings of the committee. [9328/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for COVID-19 was established on 27 January 2020 in the Department of Health and is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer. The NPHET oversees and provides national direction, guidance, support and expert advice on the development and implementation of a strategy to contain COVID-19 in Ireland. It advises Government on the public health aspects of what is a cross-Government response to COVID-19 as informed by Ireland's National Action Plan in response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), published on 16th March.  

The NPHET’s membership is multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral in line with best international practice. Membership comprises representatives from across the health and social care service including the Department of Health (DOH), Health Service Executive (HSE), Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) and others with relevant expertise in health and/or other related matters. Given the nature of the work involved, the need for a timely assessment and response and the flexibility in terms of the disease progression, the membership of the NPHET has evolved since January to encompass additional experts. This may change further over time in line with the expertise required across the response.  The Chief Clinical Officer, National Director of Acute Operations and National Director for Community Operations are among the representatives of the HSE. 

The membership of the NPHET as at 28 April 2020 is set out in “National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for COVID-19: Governance Structures”, pp. 18. This document can be accessed at the following link: .

The minutes for of the NPHET meetings are published on the Department of Health website. The minutes identify those NPHET members in attendance at each meeting since 27 January 2020:  

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Where members are not in attendance at a relevant meeting, apologies are recorded in respect of the member in question.