Yesterday evening, we in the Gorey local electoral area in County Wexford discovered, having had a very low rate of Covid-19 infection, that we rocketed up to have one of the highest on the island. We now have an incident rate of about 533.8 per 100,000, which shows how contagious the virus is so people are worried and frightened. For any community where there is a sudden upsurge it causes a lot of problems.

I welcome the fact that the HSE has now provided an emergency Covid testing centre in Ferns and increased the number of lanes at the Wexford centre from two to four. There are very good supports in place for business but we also need a debate on the strategy for rebuilding communities. We have got to give people hope. We will overcome the virus but we must show how our arts, sporting and community organisations can be helped to rebuild our communities.