The Director of the UCD National Virus Reference Laboratory has told the Dáil's special Covid-19 committee that the evidence around the use of cloth masks is "not fantastic".
Dr Cillian De Gascun told the committee the uptake of masks had not been very large but added that there was not great evidence that the virus was stopped by non-medical grade or cloth masks.
He said that while medical grade masks worked very well, inappropriate mask use could be potentially harmful and could increase the risk of transmission.
He agreed with Labour TD Duncan Smith that it would be a good use of resources to supply masks to every household. The chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group has said the use of facial coverings "cannot