Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

With all due respect, delaying phase 4 is not a strategy. I asked the Taoiseach what the Government is actually doing now which will make the numbers go down. This seems completely ad hoc. We cannot revert to lockdown every time the numbers go up. Last Tuesday's official letter from NPHET to the Government was very clear about foreign travel. It said that there has been a 12% rate of travel-related cases, but more importantly, NPHET took note that there have been several clusters associated with that travel-related 12%. It went on in that letter to say that NPHET recommends that all measures are utilised to minimise and discourage non-essential travel from overseas to Ireland. The Taoiseach has not told us about any action that the Government is currently taking to discourage travel to Ireland. That is the key thing. We have to prevent the importation of this virus. Unless we do that, we are simply not going to be in a position to reopen our schools and to get the economy up and running again. I am asking the Taoiseach yet again what exactly the Government's strategy is in relation to, as the Taoiseach puts it, living with the virus. What steps is the Government taking to reduce the importation of the virus and to ensure that we can move forward to open the economy and get back to some kind of normality? Is the Government prepared to learn from New Zealand in terms of its success?

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