I join with the sympathies and sentiments that have been expressed on the deaths of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Brendan Kennelly, Paddy Moloney and Tony MacMahon.

The announcement today on the lifting of the restrictions was yet another startling display of confusion, incoherence and chaos from the Government. With just three days to go before many businesses that have been closed for nearly two years are due to open, the rules are being rewritten. We all accept that the rates of Covid transmission can surge very quickly and can be unpredictable. What is predictable, however, is that we know without a shadow of doubt how the disease is spread. It is airborne. Businesses have been given absolutely no guidance on the manner in which they can improve ventilation and make their premises safer. Air filtration units, for example, could be rolled out to schools for as little as €12 million, but they have not been issued. Nightclub and music venue owners are going to get advice at the last possible moment on how they can open their businesses.

All indoor businesses where people congregate should have been given guidance on ventilation months ago.

The Taoiseach said yesterday that he is a great fan of antigen testing and that came as a surprise to many of us because there is no evidence that anyone in government is a fan of such testing. We are told that the continued reopening is to a large extent contingent on antigen testing being rolled out to scale. Why was that not done before? How will this massive surge in the use of antigen testing work, given that almost zero prior planning has been done for that?

We are told that people can dance in nightclubs, for example, but that they cannot go to the bar for a drink. It is confusing; people could probably dance to the bar. In his address earlier the Taoiseach attempted to defray the blame by talking about personal responsibility. Irish people have been brilliant in what they have done and we would all agree on that. They got vaccinated in their droves and stayed at home when they were told to do so. There are other issues of planning at play and we have always been in an emergency. There is also the issue of the creaking hospital capacity. We are 20 months into the disaster and there is a modest target of an increase of 66 ICU beds this year. That target has not been met and there has been no mention of additional capacity in this year's budget.

Would the Taoiseach accept that there has been a failure to plan and that we are back at an emergency stage in the opening of businesses and the criteria being applied? There has been a failure to accept that this is an airborne virus. The ads that are being shown at the moment instruct people to wash their hands. The evidence is not that the virus is transmitted by touch but that it is an airborne virus. Why has the necessary attention not been placed on that?

Every debate we have when restrictions come in or go out is the same. I recall a debate in the Dáil before the summer on the measure that enabled us to open hospitality, namely, the vaccination service. It was a heated debate with Members opposite saying it was the worst thing we could possibly do, yet it enabled the reopening of hospitality, including restaurants and pubs. Has anybody on the Opposition side said we got that wrong or have they said they were confused or that they gave an incoherent message? The Opposition always tries to pick holes although I acknowledge that there are difficulties and challenges, particularly for the sectors concerned.

Covid does not respect weekly decision-making on a precision basis. In our conversations with public health officials two weeks ago, this scenario was not on the horizon. The case numbers have taken a turn for the worse and we have to respond. It is as simple as that. We could have decided to pause everything and not open anything afresh. NPHET stated that it:

Did not believe it tenable that any pause now would result in a further easing of measures in November. The NPHET has therefore recommended that on balance:

... the remaining aspects of the hospitality, entertainment and night-time economy sector can reopen only with the full range of protective measures in place and the wide and robust implementation of the COVID-19 pass. In this regard, guidance should be developed or updated as appropriate by the relevant sectors.

NPHET goes on to list all the various measures and uses the phrase, "including the appropriate use of masks, physical distancing, ventilation, and mitigation measures". That is what is in NPHET's letter and it is now saying it does not see those measures being removed until February 2022. The measures must be implemented where appropriate and there has to be practical application of this in different settings.

Members will raise all the anomalies and ask why one thing can be done in one setting and another thing cannot be done in another setting. Those anomalies will arise in scenarios like this but the key point is that anything we have reopened so far has stayed open. Despite what some lobbies are saying, these restrictions have not inhibited a lot of activity because the Revenue and the VAT receipts are showing that a lot is going on in many sectors because of the reopening of society and the economy. It is better to try to proceed with reopening, albeit with restrictions that people will find frustrating.

It is because of the virus's turn for the worse that there is a timeline problem for the sector. I acknowledge that and the need for guidance and the need to engage with the sector and to do practical, sensible things to enable reopening and to enable the facilitation of plans that sectors that up to now had been closed have in place. We have got to work with sectors to do that. The same applies to the return to work. The Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which has employer representatives and union representatives, is meeting today to discuss that whole area in terms of the return to work on a safe basis.

I wish to raise the issue of this virus being airborne. An expert committee was in place but nothing seemed to come from it in terms of advice. We know that the virus is airborne. What guidance has been given to the sectors that remain closed and what guidance does the Taoiseach anticipate the Government will give them or will it be exclusively for them to find out for themselves? We all accept that it is late in the day and people are saying that they need some degree of certainty. I listened to an advertisement during the week that was still talking about washing hands and wearing masks, but it did not give guidance about the virus being airborne even though we know that that is where it is spread. Clearly, we cannot put all of our eggs in the vaccination basket. As such, we must address the central point of where the virus is spread. What is the Government doing in that regard, particularly in respect of congregated settings, for example, schools, nightclubs and music venues? What guidance has been given on, for example, units that people can simply plug in?

The Deputy has made a very true statement there, in that we cannot put all of the eggs in the vaccination basket alone. In fact, that is what the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, said to us last evening. He made that very point. Vaccination is a game changer, of course, but we need additional non-pharmaceutical protections to be in play as well to keep the virus at bay, particularly during the winter season because there could be a seasonality factor. In our climate, we tend to be indoors more during the winter period in terms of socialisation and so forth. I take that point.

On ventilation guidance, documents have been prepared and have issued. In respect of schools, for example, CO2 monitors have been sent to schools across the length and breadth of the country. That is the recommendation that they received in terms of how they should operate proper ventilation policy in primary and second level schools.

The development of sectoral guidance is not something new. It is something that has been ongoing since the commencement of the pandemic itself. It is something that can be achieved, working with the representative organisations in a given sector and Departments, including the relevant Department.