Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

I thank the Deputy for the question. The swabbing of staff in the private sector followed the presentation of symptoms. If there were symptomatic presentations then swabbing followed. In the public sector in care of the older person services, it depended very much on the availability of swabbing facilities. For example, Cherry Orchard Hospital has a laboratory on-site and swabbed its staff who presented with symptoms. It had a very good experience of Covid, if we could call it a good experience. In other words, the infection rate was quite low and the transfer of the infection to other staff was kept at a minimum. It also enforced quite strictly the policy of self-isolation for 14 days. Even though the HSE's policy was that close contacts could be derogated to return to work, Cherry Orchard Hospital took decisions not to implement this. I know this because I spoke to one of the assistant directors who felt it was very important not to derogate staff to come back when they did not know their status and had not been swabbed. We have requested this policy to be removed. Today, if a member of the public is a close contact he or she will be advised to stay at home and self-isolate for 14 days. This should be no different for health service workers.