Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There will certainly be very strong opposition to any suggestion of a recruitment moratorium from the Opposition benches. That is not acceptable. I was struck by what Ms Murphy said in her opening statement with regard to how she, in particular, and other staff are feeling overburdened, burnt out and overwhelmed. Those are very serious words. I sincerely hope the powers that be in the Department of Health and the HSE listen to those words and take them on board. If we are to face into a second wave, there has to be some acknowledgement of the residual impact of what all of us, but our front-line staff in particular, have just been through.

I will not ask Ms Murphy to comment on her own personal situation but will she outline the residual impact with regard to any annual leave she or her colleagues might have used to take care of kids and what the impact of that will be as we head into a second wave? I also take this opportunity to thank Ms Murphy, Ms Monahan and all other front-line workers. The job they had to do for us was nearly impossible but they did it anyway.