Over recent days, many people in the hospitality sector contacted me to tell me some of their workers who were not able to work have gone on to pharmaceutical or other work, which is a good thing. However, these people are left in a situation where they need to have a plan in place for recruiting new people. They are afraid to take people on because they do not know what will happen for Christmas. I know it is difficult for the Tánaiste to look into the future, but when will there be guidance for the likes of the hospitality sector? Will it be next week or the week after? When will there be guidance on what is going to happen for Christmas and what level they will be at? My understanding of level 3 for the likes of the hotel sector is that it is hardly worth their while opening for Christmas. That is what they are saying. Will the Tánaiste give some forecast within the next week or two to help them in their situation?

It is a fair question and I would love to be able to say here that on 1 December we will to move to level 3 or 2 and give people the ability to plan their lives and businesses, but I am not in a position to do that. This virus can change very quickly. We have seen in the course of a few days or a week the numbers increasing dramatically, and as the CMO explained at the committee the other day, it is just too far away from Christmas or from 1 December for us to be able to give a reliable indication as to what level of restrictions there will be from 1 December. The only thing worse than giving people information is to give misinformation, and if we gave people an indication now as to where we thought we might be on 1 December, there is a good chance that in two or three weeks we might have to turn around and say we cannot do that. When we do give that indication, we want it be one we can stand over, and that is probably going to be nearer to the end of November, unfortunately.