The chair of the Oireachtas Special Committee on COVID-19 Response says people need to make health decisions for themselves.
Clare TD Michael McNamara says it is time to stop focusing on the number of COVID-19 cases being reported everyday.
He told Shane Coleman on Newstalk Breakfast: "I'm speaking in a personal capacity as one of many members who've heard a lot of evidence.
"COVID is real and people have died from it and more people will die from it.
"But on the other hand, COVID is one of many virus' that are out there - one of many virus' that unfortunately people will die from - and we need to get on with our lives to the greatest extend possible and to do so safely.
"At the moment, the narrative is very much around restrictions.
"The reason that we initially had a lockdown is there's a general acceptance that our hospital capacity is very low.
"The reason that going back to school was such an event and such an achievement was because we are bottom of the OECD league in terms of investment in our schools.
"We can only improve our hospital capacity and invest in our healthcare system, invest in making our schools cleaner and safer if we have a functioning economy.
"And at the moment, we don't have a functioning economy".
"Certainly the balance that we have struck appears to be a very different balance to other EU member states.
"They have the benefit of the same quality of medical advice and medical research as we do."
"We've shut down our aviation sector - we're a country with a huge aviation sector for a small country - we've shut down our hospitality sector, we told people that they couldn't travel abroad, we imposed more restrictions than any other country over the summer.
"And yet at the end of all of that, we have the same proportion of daily reported detected cases as, for example, Sweden - which had none of those restrictions".
"We absolutely need to be cautious, but let's not forget at the start of this private nursing home imposed visitor restrictions way back at the beginning of March.
"And NPHET came out and said 'actually that's not necessary' - and now we know that a very large proportion of our deaths were in nursing homes".
"Now we know that nursing homes need to be protected, we do know that there are vulnerable communities that need to be protected and can be protected."
"We do have the capacity to protect vulnerable people, and also those who are vulnerable themselves know they're vulnerable and are taking more precautions.
"So maybe, just maybe, as a society we're beginning to learn to live with this.
"It's about modifying behaviour, it's about being careful, it's about taking precautions".
"Where do we end with all of these restrictions?
"At the end of the day we have to trust people to make decisions for themselves based on an informed risk.
"We have to inform people of what the risk is, but then it's up to people to take a decision for themselves".
"At the end of the day, it is for NPHET to give the advice but it is for elected representatives to make decisions.
"And I think there has been a failure of political leadership in this country for some time.
He said there is a "fear" that "we're putting NPHET doctors in an impossible situation where we're saying 'listen, you go and you make the decisions - and by God if you get it wrong we're going to nail you to the cross'".
