We, Donegal people, often call our home county the forgotten county. It has no rail service, poor public transport, poor or non-existent broadband infrastructure and it has experienced years of under-investment and neglect from this and previous Governments.

Last week, finally, there was a good news story with the launch of the Donegal Place initiative. Donegal was to be positioned as a great place to live, work, invest, explore and study. Those of us from Donegal and those who have travelled there already know this. Instead of this positive news story being shared over the weekend, Donegal was highlighted as the worst county in class for its continuing high rates of Covid-19. Figures from the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, showed that Donegal had the highest incidence rate of Covid-19 in the country, at 293.4, compared to a national 14-day incidence rate of 127.3. The highest rates of infections were in Milford and Letterkenny, whereas infections in the south of the county were very low, around three times lower than the national average.

On Saturday, 1 May, there was much media fanfare around the online meeting between the Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, and public representatives from Donegal. Having attended the hour and a half meeting, I can say that it was little but a public relations exercise. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, was supposed to be on Highland Radio yesterday morning on the "Nine til Noon Show" with Greg Hughes to outline what was being done in regard to the Covid-19 outbreaks. I listened to the show and was not surprised to hear that it was just local representatives again.

During the meeting on Saturday there were discussions about the possibility of increasing the number of walk-in test centres and the need to put testing centres in Milford or Glenties, for example, so that people could access them. I welcome the eventual announcement that as part of the enhanced response a self-referral testing centre will be opening in Milford Mart today, but it will only be open for three days. Additional facilities are to be announced, but we do not know where they will be located or for how long they will be open.

Since the start of the pandemic, I have been asking about access to test centres and vaccines for people in Donegal. I have been calling for an all-island zero-Covid approach, something which I raised with the Taoiseach in January of this year because of the issues around having differing regulations and regimes on both sides of the Border.

One of the initiatives announced yesterday, which did not come out of the PR-stunt last Saturday, was that the Garda had set up a hotline - a tout line or a rat line - through which neighbours are asked to tout on neighbours. On what planet is this Government if that is its response and that of officialdom in regard to the Covid outbreak in Donegal? We need walk-in test centres and vaccination clinics in Donegal and an extension of them for more than one week to ensure people can get tested and not a hotline through which people are being encouraged to inform on their friends and neighbours in respect of breaches of the Covid-19 restrictions. That is crazy. It will do nothing but set back the response in the county. What does the Government propose to do to ensure there is a proper roll-out of services?

Nationally, we are making progress in the battle against Covid-19. In terms of hospitalisations and ICU numbers, the situation is extremely positive. For example, as of this morning, there were 132 people in hospital and 39 in intensive care. The vaccination programme is making great progress, with close to 32% of the eligible population having received a first dose and 12% having received a second dose, which amounts to 1.65 million doses administered. This gives us great cause for hope and continued momentum, both on the vaccination front and in terms of keeping pressure on the virus.

In regard to Donegal, I do not accept the Deputy's analysis that the online meeting was a PR stunt. I think that is an unfortunate representation. It is important that where the numbers are high, there is awareness around that issue. We know from previous experiences during the pandemic that when people see numbers rising in any particular location, that affects behaviour. It can lead to a change of behaviour. For example, if numbers go up in hospitals or if the numbers of cases rise more generally, it leads to greater caution. That in itself is not a negative.

The opening of the walk-in test centre in Milford is an important outcome of what transpired at the weekend. If additional walk-in centres are required, they should be provided. That system works and it has been proven to work in other locations where numbers are high. It was by such mechanisms numbers in other areas were brought down, more recently in the midlands. I believe the same can happen in Donegal. Everything must be done to make sure that Donegal, along with the country, continues with the reopening of key sectors of society and the economy. It would be an awful pity if that was not to transpire. I have every confidence that we can improve on the figures in terms of the number of cases in Donegal, which, unfortunately, are much higher than in the rest of the country.

My understanding is that some Oireachtas Members sought the meeting and that they felt it would be useful if the public representatives met with the Chief Medical Officer to discuss the numbers. The Chief Medical Officer and deputy chief medical officer articulated their concerns in respect of Donegal. They certainly were not doing that as part of a public relations exercise. They are concerned about the numbers and they are anxious to get them down. We will be supportive of the people of Donegal in getting the numbers down.

I have no knowledge of a tout line. I do not like that language, the use of the word "tout". It has wider connotations.

It would be useful if what was agreed at the meeting on Saturday was carried out. It was agreed that Dr. Holohan would take part in an interview on local radio yesterday to discuss the situation. That did not happen. It was agreed that walk-in centres would be announced yesterday. They were announced after the Garda announced its confidential telephone line through which people could inform the Garda where incidents and breaches of Covid-19 restrictions are taking place. As far as I am aware, Donegal is the only place in Ireland where that is happening. That has been the response of officialdom to the high incidence of Covid-19 infection in Donegal. It is a serious situation and this high incidence of infection needs to be tackled. There is no doubt about that. However, it needs to tackled in a holistic way and not in a way that isolates people or puts them on the back foot, which is what the response thus far is doing. This matter needs to be tackled properly.

The Taoiseach is probably correct that local representatives called for the meeting on Saturday because it appeared to be a PR stunt. That resulted in a dedicated response, but when representatives commit to doing something, they should do it. It is vital that happens.

First, I think it is a good thing that public representatives would be proactive and would meet with the Chief Medical Officer and responsibly work out what measures would be helpful in terms of reducing the numbers in Donegal. From what I could glean, that was the genuine motivation behind that meeting during a bank holiday weekend. From my perspective, it was a positive thing to do. I believe there should be follow through. I will check whether representatives of the Chief Medical Officer can make themselves available to local radio. There may have been reasons beyond their control that they could not participate in the Monday show. I will follow that up.

We should support the Garda. I have had quite a number of discussions with the Garda and one would be taken aback by what they say, for example, about the sophistication of quite a number of síbíns that were found around the country, in blatant violation of the regulations and undermining legitimate traders in the hospitality sector who had closed in accordance with the regulations. They were quite sophisticated operations and it is important that there is a clampdown on gross violations of that kind. There should be zero toleration of that kind of blatant disregard for the regulations that are passed under the aegis of this House.