Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for appearing before us.

I will concentrate briefly on congregated settings. Community hospitals were meant to be brought up to a standard, as some were, of having up to 80% single-bed occupancy. At some stage, the HSE believed this target could not be delivered. It was a HIQA standard and the 80% figure was later reduced. Unfortunately, as I have seen in west Cork - it is probably the case throughout the country - this standard was not delivered. It is to be delivered going forward. Why were the standards announced initially not applied? Deadlines for bringing hostels up to standard were missed. Has this cost lives, especially in settings where there are multiple people in single rooms?

Was it necessary to remove home help from clients who were receiving only bare essential hours? In recent years, we have been fighting for greater investment in home help. It is proven that people who can stay at home longer are much healthier. Many people are very upset that they have lost their home help service and are trying to have it restored. That issue needs to be focused on.

I mentioned in an earlier discussion the budget available to the HSE. I note it has acquired a PC-12 aircraft to fly swabs to Germany for testing, which is very important. We realise now that these tests could have been carried out in laboratories here. As I said, Animal Health Laboratories Limited in west Cork has stated that, with a little investment, it could have carried out thousands of tests and the company has asked why we spent large amounts on having testing done elsewhere. The tests being carried out in Germany may not cost much but it costs a lot to get them there. We could have had next-day or same-evening results if we had invested in laboratories here. Maybe that issue will be considered.

Doctors and nurses from all over the world have practically given up their livelihoods to come home and help us save lives. What has the HSE planned to encourage them to stay in Ireland?