There is a fair degree of caution and concern among the public about what is likely to happen over the next month or so in respect of Covid rates. In that respect, I feel that a lot of the public health messaging is quite weak and needs attention and reinforcement. I prevail upon the Taoiseach to try to get that right because people still do not know what the arrangements are going to be over Christmas. They want to make arrangements and plans at this point and they still do not know what exactly the guidelines and regulations will be covering that period.

I wish to raise an issue with the Taoiseach that I have raised several times over the past nine or ten months. There is potential for a significant increase in the rate of the virus in the area of international travel. We have talked about this several times. For some months we have been in a situation where there is essentially no oversight of the guidelines on international travel. The advice is that one has to self-regulate for a 14-day period and there is no oversight of that whatsoever. We know that text messages go out and there are occasional calls, all with the intention of giving public health advice but nothing to do with oversight or monitoring of that. We also know that there is very little back tracing, so we do not have any reliable data on the extent of the importation of the virus.

In light of the changes to travel arrangements, I wish to ask the Taoiseach about three areas. On the question of people having to have a test before they come here if they are coming from an orange country, or being able to have a test within five days of coming from a red or green country, what is the oversight arrangement for that? I asked the Tánaiste about this a few weeks ago and he said that it may need legal underpinning. Does it need legal underpinning and what is being done about that?

My second question relates to situations where people come here and opt to have a private test after being here for five days. If they test positive, what will the arrangements be for ensuring there is adequate tracing of contacts?

The final area I wish to ask about concerns the revelation in recent days that significant problems are being caused by a lack of communication between the North and here. The loophole that exists whereby people who come through Dublin Airport, or other airports in the Republic, do not have to follow any particular guidelines at all is known as the Dublin dodge. There are implications for us here, but serious implications for the North as well. We know that the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr. Robin Swann, has expressed serious concern about the lack of co-ordination there. We are heading into a period where there is going to be a lot of travel over Christmas and the new year. What safeguards will the Government put in place in that regard?

As a general point, I do not accept that the public health messaging is weak right now. I think people fully understand what is required between now and 18 December. I have seen increased mask wearing on the streets, which indicates that people are taking on board the messaging. After 18 December, people are fully aware of the communications. There will be a very comprehensive two-pronged communications strategy, #savechristmas, but also one that is devised for young people by youth advocacy groups, #antiviral, which will be a very comprehensive one on platforms accessed by young people.

In response to the point the Deputy raised on source tracing, next week on 8 December the HSE will commence a new strand of source investigations. It will go back seven days to get to the location where a spreader event began. That capacity exists and the HSE has been working on this and preparing for it. That will be important as an extra tool that is available to the HSE and the public health teams to identify super-spreader events, or events where the virus spread would have originated.

In respect of international travel, the Tánaiste did reference legal underpinning. The Government is looking at ways for the arrangements that have been made in terms of testing and other measures to be made mandatory, or for the legislation to act as a deterrent to people who might try to avoid having to take a test or adhere to the guidelines. It has been a challenging area, although it must be said repeatedly that travel has reduced dramatically over the year by 96% or 97%. Fewer people are travelling year-on-year. Many Deputies in this House, including from Deputy Shortall's party, have lobbied us on the aviation sector and spoken about how empty the airports are. We have put in a package to try to keep them going and to keep their liquidity intact, because international connectivity is vital to Ireland. The situation is being examined by the Government and legal advice is being taken on what additional measures can be taken to underpin legally the guidelines that we want people to adhere to in terms of testing.

On people coming into Dublin Airport and travelling to the North, we have worked very hard at co-ordination between North and South and with the North-South Ministerial Council. The two CMOs have engaged regularly on a whole range of issues. From a public health perspective, the Border has presented challenges. Of that, there is no doubt. As the Deputy knows, the various levels of restrictions have not been in exact alignment at various periods-----

I thank the Taoiseach.

-----which has also been problematic in terms of the spread of the virus on both sides of the Border but in particular close to the Border itself.

The Taoiseach's response does not inspire confidence. There is a lot of nervousness about the real dangers of the importation of the virus, but the Taoiseach has not provided any reassurance at all. We are into December now and we are likely to have a big increase in travel over Christmas and the new year. What the Taoiseach is saying is that at this point the Government is looking at whether there is a need for a legal underpinning of the regulations. That is really late in the day. It is not sufficient for the Taoiseach to say that we have tried in regard to the North.

There must be a system whereby there is co-ordination of at least the passenger locator form North and South. Otherwise, we are very exposed as there is a major loophole, with as many people as so wish being able to come through the airports in the Republic of Ireland, with no checks on where they have been and where they are going.

Mr. Robin Swann MLA has been pleading with our Minister for Health to take action and achieve co-ordination in the area. The response has been for the members of the Government to throw their hands in the air, shrug their shoulders and say it is very difficult or challenging. It is not good enough and we need action from the Government to limit the inherent dangers in the next month arising from travel.

It is mandatory to correctly complete the passenger locator form and we are looking at further potential mandatory obligations. As far back as the summer I spoke to the Northern Ireland Executive about the dangers of travel. We did not have the same exponential increase in the Republic as they did in the North after the summer because we were very slow in reopening travel in this country. I took much criticism at times for not reopening travel more liberally during the summer.

The story for the Republic right through to now is that we are the best-performing country in the European Union in keeping the virus spread down. That did not happen by accident. It happened because we have taken a conservative approach, relative to other countries, in reopening society and the economy.

Travel this Christmas will be more than 90% down on last year. It is the reality. That said, extra measures will be taken at airports not just with passenger locator forms but with follow-up checks with those who have travelled in to ensure people are residing where they said they would or have notified a change of address. Random checks will be rolled out across airports and ports by immigration officials, who will select a proportion of appropriate arrivals to see whether they have supporting documentation for either essential travel or a negative Covid-19 PCR test in their possession.