Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

The trade unions and the health service negotiated that working from home would be a facility available to staff. The information supplied in our survey of members shows that 34% availed of that. However, the majority relied on a partner taking annual leave or a relative coming to live in their home. Some moved their children to relatives' homes and did not see those children for eight weeks. Many responses to our survey attested to that. The sacrifice they made in coming to work was extraordinary. In fact, I do not think it can be matched by any public service representatives in the midst of this Covid-19 crisis.

The feeling our staff have right now is that the annual leave that is scheduled for the rest of this year has already been completely used up. We do not believe the health service is going to quieten down. We believe, in fact, that now that we have two services, namely, a Covid service and a non-Covid service, the pressure on the health service is going to increase dramatically. We see from our own daily count of trolley figures that the numbers are already going the wrong way. We are up to more than 130 people on trolleys today. The health service will continue to be busy and healthcare workers, including the nurses and midwives we are representing today, are very clearly saying that a better plan must be arrived at to make sure they are not financially at a loss and having to pay for their ability to come to work.