Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Ní Sheaghdha very much for her reply. It is something that will have to be looked at in an awful lot more detail. It sounds absolutely extraordinary that we would have let that happen to healthcare workers.

Ms Ní Sheaghdha's members were put in an impossible situationvis-à-vischildcare. Schools were closed, grandparents were isolating, childcare facilities were closed, home childcare was very hard to find and expensive, and Ms Ní Sheaghdha's members needed to be at work. As per her data, many of them were also living with front-line workers, many of them also healthcare workers, making it absolutely impossible in many cases. The promised childcare scheme for healthcare workers never really happened. Were any supports put in place for childcare for Ms Ní Sheaghdha's members? Were any costs covered? Was any tax relief offered? Were any dedicated facilities opened for healthcare workers? Was there any flexibility on rosters?

What happened when Ms Ní Sheaghdha's members simply could not get to work because of childcare issues? Were any sanctions taken against them? Were any of them docked pay? Were they told that they would have to take annual leave and what happened if they ran out of annual leave? Are some of these issues still at play for her members?