The temporary wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment of €350 per week have protected those who have lost their jobs in a way that was appropriate and was right to do. I think we all acknowledge that it cannot last forever. It was an unprecedented action and it is not affordable for it to last forever, and I think the vast majority of people in the country understand that. However, it will need to continue at least until people have the opportunity to return to their jobs. For the vast majority, t…

No decisions have yet been made on the rates or on the timelines. That may yet be a decision to be made by the next Government, if we have a new Government by then. If we do not, then obviously this continuing Government will have to make that decision, and it will make it well before mid-June and will give people plenty of time for that. It is a great thing that people provide food banks and hand out food parcels, and this Government actually funds food banks and we have done that for a very long time. What we do …

People need to see through this. Everyone in this Chamber does.

I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I cannot confirm those exact numbers. I do not have them in front of me but they may well be correct. They certainly sound like they are correct. The definition of a household or a bubble, as some countries term it, is not unique to Ireland. Essentially from a public health point of view, someone's household or bubble is the people he or she lives with. It is virtually impossible to maintain a social distance from people we live with. There are many who share a house with others they…

A plan for what?

On a point of order, I would have been happy to answer some of Deputy Kelly's questions had I been allowed time to do so.

If I was a cynical man, I would think the Deputy asked me questions he knows I cannot answer so that he could then accuse me of not answering them.

The Deputy asked me questions about what happened at meetings I do not attend. The Deputy knows I cannot answer.

I am not all-seeing and all-knowing.

I do not have them. How can I publish them when I do not have them?

I thank the Deputy for her questions. Our strategy is to have the capacity to test 100,000 people per week-----

-----and to do so with a rapid turnaround, followed by rapid and aggressive tracing. That is not contrary to the medical advice or the advice of the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, as the Deputy contends. The testing centres have been underutilised in the past couple of weeks because of the clinical criteria for testing. Now that they have been relaxed by the NPHET and the CMO, I expect to see them used much more than previously.

The decision on the criteria for testing is entirely one for the CMO and the NPHET. The CMO is best placed to answer that question. It is not a Government decision at all in any way. On the three-week interval, the World Health Organization recommends two and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, recommends four. The incubation period is between five and 11 days. That is why three weeks has been chosen. On New Zealand, it is important to state we have now tested considerably more people per …

I thank the Deputy. I believe I answered that question in response to Deputy McDonald. We acknowledge that this payment is unprecedented, is one of the highest in the world and cannot go on forever as that would not be affordable for taxpayers, but we also acknowledge that it cannot be removed until people have the opportunity to return to their jobs. Lots of people will not have that opportunity this side of the middle of June, so it will be necessary to extend it. That might be a decision for this Government or i…

Again, I think everybody in the House knows that these are rhetorical questions. The Deputy asked me if I can give a commitment that this payment will not be ended until the pandemic will end. Does the Deputy know when the pandemic will end?

No, he does not.

Exactly. Of course it is impossible to give a commitment about the pandemic ending when nobody knows when the pandemic will end. It is a rhetorical question, not a serious one, designed to get press coverage, not to get a serious answer.

Democratic legitimacy does not derive from opinion polls, whether it is a door-to-door survey or online and no matter who does it. In a democracy, and this is a democracy, legitimacy does not derive from opinion polls of any sort carried out by anyone. Sometimes I wish they did because, as the Deputy will know, my own experience is one of doing much better in opinion polls than in real elections. Opinion polls do not confer democratic legitimacy; elections do. Ultimately, this House will form a Government with demo…

I reject the Deputy's contention. I was not glib and nor did I sweep anything under the carpet. I gave him a straight answer to a straight question as to whether I accept the democratic legitimacy of opinion polls. No, I do not. If the Deputy did, I imagine he would vote for me as Taoiseach because apparently that is what the latest opinion poll says the public wants. Opinion polls are only opinion polls. That is all they are and I am surprised the Deputy thinks they have some sort of democratic legitimacy when it …

My thanks to Deputy Murphy - I will certainly do my best. In answer to Deputy Murphy's first question, I cannot confirm it. A period of 24 hours is extremely difficult to achieve. It is almost impossible for tests that are sent to Germany, because they have to be flown to Germany. However, turnaround times are improving and they will improve further. I think people accept that there were unacceptable and inordinate delays some weeks ago. It is far from perfect now but it is improving. Certainly, for healthcare work…