Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the contributors here this morning. I want to start with the 18 May deadline. That was the deadline that was fixed in the minds of all of us here in terms of the expectation that childcare for healthcare workers would be provided at that point. I am talking about the roadmap. That deadline was missed. What I find extraordinary, and this what I would like to get a view on from both SIPTU and the INMO, is the litany of correspondence between the INMO, in particular, and the various line Departments. I have the dates here in the INMO's submission: 6 April; 16 April; freedom of information requests in respect of 8 April and 9 April; again two more on 9 April; on 27 April; and even on 6 May. There seems to me to have been a very proactive and progressive attempt by the INMO to engage with the HSE and through the ambit of NPHET and the line Departments in respect of putting in place something to meet the deadline of 18 May.

If I look at the evidence base here, based on the litany of correspondence, I would have to conclude objectively that there was never going to be a serious attempt on the part of the HSE, NPHET or even any of the line Departments to provide any kind of childcare for healthcare workers. I would like to get the reaction of the witnesses to that. It seems to me that there was no concerted effort. There was maybe a bit of pageantry being gone through, a bit of choreography, or a pretence that they were going to deal with that issue. I would like to get the perspective of the witnesses on whether they felt they were taken seriously as healthcare workers in respect of whether the Government was actually going to come up with a scheme that was fit for purpose and to which everybody would subscribe.

Looking at the scheme up to 18 May, it was going to be devised along the lines of childcare professionals going into the homes of healthcare workers. In my opinion, for what it is worth, and I would love to hear the witnesses' opinion, they had never fully worked through what the protocols around that would be. It seems to me that what we are at here is the Government is going through a charade in respect of taking the issue seriously. That is the first point. I would love to get the reaction of the witnesses to that in the short time that I have.