CMO and Health Minister accused of treating Covid Oireachtas committee 'shabbily' 

Acting Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn, will appear before it this morning. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The Health Minister and top health officials are being accused of treating the Oireachtas Covid-19 committee 'shabbily'.

Minister Stephen Donnelly and Acting Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn, will appear before it this morning.

Two members of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), Professor Philip Nolan and Dr Cillian de Gascun, will join via video link to discuss the state's Covid strategy.

But Sinn Féin's health spokesman, David Cullinane, says it's unacceptable committee members only have two hours to question them.

"It's quite shabby where we have arrived at a situation where for the last number of weeks we've had difficulty getting the Minister for Health in. I'm not sure why this has come about but I do think most reasonable people will see it's unacceptable that members of the committee who want to ask questions of the Minister for Health and the acting CMO and indeed Nphet that they will only have five minutes in one session for all of those witnesses."

On Monday, committee chairperson Micheal McNamara said it was imperative that the committee heard from the HSE before producing its final report. 

"Members want to get answers from the HSE on its current test and trace system capacity and the current turnaround times in operation," he said.