Compliance officer needed to monitor TDs for signs of Covid-19

The report further confirmed that the Dáil chamber is too small to host a full sitting of parliament under current social distancing guidelines.

A health and safety report commissioned as part of a review of the Houses of the Oireachtas due to Covid-19 has recommended that a compliance officer be nominated to “ensure social distancing and hygiene rules are being maintained within the chamber”.

The report, carried out by chartered fire engineers and event safety experts Eamon O’Boyle and Associates, states that the nominated officer “should be aware of the symptoms” of the coronavirus and “inform management and first aid if they suspect” anyone within the chamber of having them.

“They should assist in isolating the individual, while not putting themselves at risk,” the report said, adding that any such response “must be quick and dealt with in a private and confidential manner”. It’s unclear as to whether or not that compliance officer would be drawn from the ranks of elected TDs.

The report further confirmed that the Dáil chamber is too small to host a full sitting of parliament under social distancing guidelines.

That news had not been unexpected, with the Dáil’s business committee approving in early April the use of Dublin’s Convention Centre, situated on the quays in the north inner city, as an alternate venue for those occasions, such as the election of a Taoiseach, on which all members of the house would be required to attend.

Hiring that venue is expected to cost €50,000 per day, with an additional one-off expense of €110,000 to install the microphone system necessary to facilitate a Dáil sitting.

In a letter to TDs, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail said it is “vitally important that Dáil Éireann continues to sit during the Covid-19 emergency but we must also ensure that all appropriate health and safety measures are in place to protect the health and welfare of members and staff”.

He added that additional health and safety measures, with an emphasis on sanitation, would be implemented across the Leinster House complex this week.

The report confirms the restricted sitting limit of 45 TDs (plus the Ceann Comhairle himself) under which the Dáil has been operating since the onset of the crisis.

It recommends that any TD who has chosen a particular seat for a sitting should “keep to the same seat while they are in attendance… to prevent cross-contamination”.

Meanwhile, a full sanitation of the chamber should be carried out prior to each sitting, the report said, with a recommendation that “consideration be given to pausing sittings every two to three hours to allow cleaning staff to sanitise the chamber”.