None of the talk here today will count for anything and none of the projections will come to pass unless we get one thing right, namely, the question of tracing and testing. The entire strategy for addressing the pandemic in this country is to have a substantial testing and tracing regime in place such that a minimum of 15,000 people per day are tested. There has been talk about that for several weeks. Currently, only 5,000 people are being tested per day. None of the proposals being made today will matter or come …

The Minister has already thanked those at the coalface saving us, but the way to thank them properly is by ensuring they are properly paid.

I will try to ask five questions in five minutes and hopefully I will get five answers. The first relates to the strategy the national effort is based on, that is, a strategy of test and trace on a large-scale basis - 15,000 a day. We have heard that promise for several weeks now and we are currently at 5,000 a day. Does the Minister accept that the point at which we can start to ease restrictions and get back to some kind of normality is entirely dependent on reaching that figure of 15,000 tests a day and having t…

There are five.

I congratulate Deputy Kelly and wish him well in his new role. I send good wishes to Deputy McDonald. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I extend our deepest sympathies to the families of all of those people who, sadly, have been lost to this deadly pandemic. Again I pay tribute to our public health officials, to all of those people working on the front line in the health service, in supporting the health service in its important work, in the retail sector and in the delivery sector, and to all of those other key p…

I will ask my questions first, before the time is gone. I said earlier that the shortage of reagent is the most critical issue to be addressed because everything else hinges on it. I have spoken to people in the scientific community here, and they have been very clear about the fact that two pharmaceutical companies, both of which have plants here, namely, Roche and Abbott, are the companies that possess or own the patent or formula. It is just unbelievable that should be the case and that it is holding up the resp…

The Taoiseach said there were copious amounts available.

They are not occurring currently. I ask the Taoiseach please not to talk down the clock. Will he answer the question?

What about the task force?

Has the Taoiseach given thought to it? Does he not accept that a multi-disciplinary task force is required? We need to bring in expertise.

There is a question about transparency, although I am not pointing the finger at anybody. A number of aspects of the response to Covid-19 do not add up for people. One such matter is the fact that the test numbers are so low. People have heard for many weeks that we should be doing 15,000 tests a day, but that is not happening. In fact, the numbers are very low, which calls into question the whole strategy and which questions some of the data being used. Clearly, we are operating off theoretical models rather than …

I wish to join other party leaders and Members in acknowledging the extraordinary national effort that we have seen in recent weeks. I wish to single out one particular person in this regard, our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, to whom we all owe an extraordinary debt of gratitude. We are exceptionally lucky that we have someone of his calibre who has insisted on operating on an evidence base. He comes with a major background of expertise in the area of public health. He has remained incredibly calm and on…

The Social Democrats very much welcome the proposals in respect of wage replacement and the co-operative approach that has been shown in terms of the proposals brought forward by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC. We know from all of the academic advice on this and the experience in other European countries that this is the right thing to do and I commend the Minister on that. Wage replacement is clearly critically important to keep workers attached to the workforce, to maintain demand in the economy and …

On a point of order, there was a lengthy discussion in the Business Committee this morning about the order for today. Why have we had no notice about this new change? It is very unsatisfactory. I appreciate that people are under pressure, but umpteen changes are now proposed by the Government. That has upset the rhythm of the day and Members' preparedness for the debate.

That is what was agreed, but the new order has been introduced by the Deputy. It is very hard to understand the reason for that. Will it be statements?

I am sorry, we are at cross purposes. We expected health to be the second slot. A new section is being proposed now. I do not know why that was not brought to us at the Business Committee this morning or why we were not consulted about it. It had not been the plan to take social protection. Where has that come from? Why was the Business Committee not involved in that decision?

The Social Democrats support the health measures set out in this legislation. The measures are largely technical and facilitate good practice in the response that is required. Several issues should be included but have not been covered by the legislation. A point made by several Members to date is the whole question of trainee nurses' pay and the need to ensure that is addressed quickly. People have been extraordinary in the way they have come forward to support the national effort but it is really important that e…

Is amendment No. 52 in this group?

Amendment No. 52 is just a safeguard. One of the grounds set out in the Bill refers to testing for Covid-19. That could give carte blanche. What I am proposing is that we insert "in accordance with World Health Organization criteria". That is a reasonable safeguard. I also support the comments made by Deputy O'Reilly. There is a significant move away from a three-person tribunal to a single-person tribunal and a person without any medical expertise. While I understand provision being made in the event of dire and s…

I would like the Minister to address this real and pressing issue. It needs to be dealt with urgently. I raised it this morning during an earlier contribution. While the Minister for Justice and Equality indicated that something will be done on it, will the Minister provide more details?