The Minister for Health has said today’s Dáil sitting poses a risk to public health.

TDs are meeting for a three-hour Dáil session this afternoon to debate the Government’s health and welfare responses to the COVID-19 outbreak.

With no more than 30% of representatives allowed to attend in order to ensure social distancing, much of the discussion has focused on whether the session should have been held at all.

The Business Committee had a “long and heated” meeting on the issue this afternoon after Fine Gael TDs called for the session to be cancelled.

Sinn Féin and PBP argued for a sitting every week through the crisis. I'm told Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil wanted a suspension until the end of April

— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) April 2, 2020

However, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit have argued that it is essential that TDs have an opportunity to hold the government to account over its response to the Coronavirus crisis.

Dáil Éireann

Addressing the chamber, Health Minister Simon Harris said the meeting goes against the public health advice given to the rest of the country.

“I am deeply uneasy from a public health point of view that we are meeting in this session today,” he said.

“That does not mean that the Dáil can’t meet.

“The European Parliament has met, digitally, virtually, for quite a number of weeks so I am sure it is not beyond us, with a little bit of ingenuity and a little bit of innovation, to do what workplaces all across the country are doing.

“But be clear, we are risking public health by being here today.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett on the plinth at Leinster House, 02-04-2020. Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire/PA Images

Earlier, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett warned that it is crucial that that members continue to meet though the crisis.

“The questions that come from the public about how measures impact on them is critical for shaping and framing public health policy, because it is a huge societal effort,” he said.

“So, having these things discussed in an open and transparent way is not just some sort of additional extra – it is critical to the effective implementation of public health measures to address disease infection.”

"Vitally important"

Meanwhile, Donegal TD Thomas Pringle also called for continued Dáil sittings.

“The Dáil is very necessary and it does need to be in place,” he said.

“It does need to be in place to hold the Government to account and to make the Government accountable for its actions.

“Whether that is a part-time government of the care-taker Government that we have now, or whether it is the new government as well, the Dáil has to meet.

“That is vitally important.”

Essential business

Earlier Fine Gael Junior Minister Patrick O'Donovan wrote to the Business Committee calling for the session to be cancelled, insisting that there was no essential business to discuss.

He said the risk to everyone attending outweighs the reasons for the meeting.

Dáil sitting today will go ahead after a "long and heated" meeting of the Business Committee. It's been agreed the Dáil will adjourn until April 16th after today's session

— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) April 2, 2020

Meanwhile, his party Paul Kehoe called the meeting “deplorable.”

Meanwhile, the Labour Party has boycotted the sitting with leadership hopeful Aodhán Ó Ríordáin calling it “grandstanding nonsense.”

Deputy Boyd Barrett noted that he is open to the Dáil meeting by teleconference for health and safety reasons – but warned that it is vital TDs meet to hold the government to account.

With reporting from Seán Defoe