I want to ask what is going on as regards communications with NPHET. I do not want to use the phrase “gag” but that seems to be what it is. Now, all communication has to go through the Government Information Service, GIS. If that is the way the Taoiseach wants to do things, that is fine, but he is responsible for that because it reports to him and GIS is in his Department. Why is this change happening now as regards the process by which NPHET communicates with the public? The Taoiseach is responsible for it, but why now? Is it because of what happened last Thursday in regard to information coming out from a NPHET meeting before the Government made the decision? If it is, just say so.

I have a concern. The Government makes decisions and has to make the ultimate communications, but there are times when we have to hear directly from public health experts in regard to specifics. We have a storm going on outside. With all due respect to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I would rather hear from Evelyn Cusack and Met Éireann as regards the direction of that storm than from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage because there is a very specific need. I say that in jest but we are also in the middle of a pandemic.

There are specific needs as regards information that has to be communicated. Going through GIS in order to have to make media appearances is worrying from a transparency point of view.

The Taoiseach needs to clear this up because, from my perspective and from that of the Labour Party, the main confusion over the past week has not been from NPHET but from the Government. When it came to antigen testing, the Government indicated there were going to be subsidies but then all of a sudden the Minister announced on television that there would not be. A missive was sent out at 6.15 p.m. on Tuesday last regarding masks being mandatory. There was a U-turn on Monday because I challenged the Government in the Dáil on the legality of this for principals. In some cases, principals were unwilling to do it. That changed as a result. There were changes in respect of those arriving into the country. Aer Lingus informed the country that a change had taken place between Friday and Sunday as regards the requirement for PCR and antigen tests on arrival. We see a pattern here.

I also raised the issue of the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and Ministers were touting different schemes until yesterday when the Minister for Social Protection gave us some, but not all, of the information. We now know that information will not be fully out there until Thursday or Friday. We have the issues of HEPA filters, and I agree with the previous speaker that this has been going on forever. I have no understanding whatsoever as to why this has not been put forward and dealt with.

I want to ask the Taoiseach the following questions. Who is responsible for the change in policy of how NPHET is to communicate with the public on specific public health issues? Why was that decided? Does the Taoiseach accept that it is Ministers and their failures as regards communication that have created the omnishambles over the five issues I have pointed out in the past week alone? For those workers who are so impacted by the restrictions that have been brought about, including those who are servicing the hospitality industry - taxi drivers and others - what bespoke measures will be put in place in order to support them during this difficult time?

I agree with the Deputy’s comments on the centrality and importance of the public health advice during the global pandemic. From the outset of this pandemic, when I was on the Opposition benches in the immediate aftermath of the general election, at the first meeting with public health officials I stated - Deputy Shortall would have been present at that meeting and would have said exactly the same thing - that all of us in this House must accept the centrality of public health advice as a guide to dealing and coping with the pandemic. That remains my position. It is extremely important that public health advice is independent and transparent and is seen to be so. I will give the following commitment: as long as I am Taoiseach, there will never be an attempt, in any shape or form, to undermine the independence or transparency of public health advice.

The Deputy may have overstated the degree to which there has been a change in communications. All press officers in all Departments have been asked to make sure that NPHET spokespeople are facilitated in going forward to the public media to do interviews, make media appearances and communicate public health advices in the context of Government policy and to explain to people the rationale for the advice that is given. The Government also decided that we will co-ordinate this so that we do not have six spokespeople out on the one day as opposed to two or three and that there is a synchronising and a proper co-ordination of those appearances. That is not something anybody can quibble with. That is the position. I have checked back on what happened over the weekend and nobody was stopped from going on any show from what I have garnered. I said what I said at a press outing on Sunday morning in good faith. This matters to me too and I believe in the independence of NPHET.

I want to make the following point while reflecting on what has happened in recent months.

I have come to the conclusion that, more often than not, referring to mixed messaging is a good way of saying "I actually don't like the message". That seems to me to be the position. In the House from time to time, people have said that we have not done antigen testing but everyone knows that public health advisers have not been, from the earliest days, the strongest advocates of antigen testing. There is a robust debate about antigen testing and there is also a robust debate about ventilation. I believe we should do everything we possibly can on ventilation, and we will, but people move on very quickly from the public health advice and say that the Government is not doing this or that when, on many occasions, it can be because that is the advice. All of us need to be careful not to fall prey to the inevitable human failing of always seeking to blame the messenger when we do not quite like the message.

I presume the Taoiseach is not referring to my party because, as he knows, uniquely among Opposition parties, we have supported the emergency measures. It is very hard to take the Taoiseach seriously when he says that the message is sometimes lost in translation. What happened in relation to schools was not lost in translation; it was a direct contradiction. I have been raising antigen testing in the House for 14 months.

I am worried about GIS and the spokespeople from NPHET, a considerable percentage of whom are public servants. Some of those involved with NPHET and NIAC are not public servants, but some are. I have a concern that they feel that they need to go through GIS in order to appear on radio or TV shows or speak to the print media. Will the Taoiseach confirm that they do not have to go through GIS? Mr. Gavan Reilly said last Sunday that a senior member of NPHET was supposed to appear on his show but then he was told that the person was not available. The Taoiseach is now saying that is not the case. Will he confirm to the House that anybody from NPHET who wants to appear on any show or give an interview to the print media does not have to go through GIS or any spokespeople?

Journalists should continue to contact the HSE or the Department of Health to request interviews with public health officials.

What if they contact them directly?

Then they should notify the grid and make sure that everyone knows who is appearing on what show at a given time.

Why?

To co-ordinate. We need co-ordination, obviously.

All of a sudden, two years later.

The Deputy has been complaining about-----

Yes, about Ministers.

Deputies on the opposite side have been complaining about so many messages and so many people speaking. That has been a common refrain.

About Ministers.

It is because of the pandemic, basically, if we are honest about it. The pandemic has necessitated very frequent interviews and commentary, particularly with regard to Omicron. Let us be clear. The reason there was a significant range of announcements in the past ten days was because Omicron was a big factor. Let us be honest. We had to make a call in terms of travel. The rise in cases of Delta among five- to 11-year-olds necessitated a response from public health and a Government decision on 9- to 11-year-olds and masks. We have to move quickly at times in respect of public health advice on new developments. Omicron was one of those new developments. It looks like it will be a significant element in the next phase of the pandemic, which is why I said what I said at the outset about the absolute necessity and importance of people getting the booster vaccine.

When you are explaining, you are losing.

It will really protect people to a much greater degree than they are protected now against either Delta or Omicron.

Deputy Kelly made the point that he has been raising antigen testing but he would be the first to admit that he is not a public health expert, no more than I am.

I am not saying that I am.

I know that and neither am I. There we go again. What I am saying is that there is a difference of opinion on antigen tests and there always has been.