“Thanks to the amazing efforts of the people of Kildare, Laois and Offaly [KLO], we know that localised measures can work, and it is without a doubt that the people of KLO have saved a lot of lives,” he told the“They’ve saved lives in their own community and by helping suppress the spread of the virus around the country, they’ve saved lives all over the country.”
He said that measures which avoid lockdown by “seeking out and minimising” situations where the virus spreads “are what we want to use”. “That’s the approach we’re using across Ireland – targeted measures to suppress the virus while keeping as much of our society and our economy open as possible,” he said.Mr Donnelly defended plans to introduce randomised testing at airports, saying it is “to provide an extra security measure in terms of testing and tracing,” after the scheme was criticised by Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall.
He said he would not yet commit to a public inquiry into deaths in nursing homes, and that consideration is needed as to the best approach for the families of people who have died. He faced criticism of a lack of detail on the Health service’s winter plan and the switch from a phased approach to easing lockdown to an ongoing colour coded approach.