Ms Catherine Keogh:

I might come in on the question. There are two elements that to my mind seem to have been ignored. There is another front line about which people forget, namely, the front line in the community. Home help co-ordinators are represented by Fórsa and SIPTU represents home help workers who go into the home. They were the unsung heroes of the pandemic and kept many people out of acute hospitals. That element of the health service must be a part of any conversation about dealing with a second wave.

I also wish to draw people's attention to structural deficits that exist within the wider health service, including HSE hospitals, voluntary hospitals and section 38 and section 39 institutions providing disability services. As my colleagues have said, we now have a bit of time to plan how to properly approach a second wave. We must look at all those factors. We call on the HSE to do things, and that is important, but my colleagues who are involved in weekly meetings with the HSE know that we also need the voluntary hospitals, which are all independent bodies, to get on board. We need to bear those things in mind.