The Independent Scientific Advocacy Group has warned there is a high risk that Ireland is now entering its fourth wave of COVID-19, with a further risk of a fifth wave as a result of new variants.

In a conference held today, ISAG said that lockdown measures have not been effective enough to lead to a safe reopening of the country.

It added that the vaccine programme alone will neither quickly nor comprehensively give sufficient immunity to the population to prevent a fourth or fifth wave.

Is this scaremongering, or do we need a new approach?

To discuss this we were joined by Professor Anthony Staines, Chair of Health Systems in the School of Nursing and Human Sciences at Dublin City University, and Michael McNamara, Independent TD and former Chair of the Oireachtas Covid Committee.