Ms Siobhán McArdle:

Even prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a very robust and integrated engagement between the HSE and the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, under the governance of the Department of Justice and Equality.

They have been working closely together to provide health guidance and supports to new arrivals into the country as well as providing public health information and linking people into the health supports in their communities, wherever those communities may be. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, or even in advance of that, there has been an increased level of meetings held and measures taken at national and local levels. At a local level, in each community healthcare organisation our social inclusion services work within primary care services to ensure that every resident in direct provision receives all the information required to support his or her health outcome. At a practical level, that means engaging people with their GP services in the wide range of primary care centres-----