Dr. Ronan Glynn:

I refer to the Deputy's question on the long-term effects and, in particular, the impact on our wider health system.

I am sure the witnesses from the HSE spoke earlier about their plan for a resumption of services and their winter planning process. I would say that the single greatest thing that can contribute to addressing the backlogs that have arisen is that we do not go into reverse with this disease and that we keep the levels of infection under control such that the levels of service that have resumed can continue in the vein that they are currently operating and, we hope, can operate to a greater extent over the coming weeks and months. However, that is contingent on the levels of the disease remaining stable.

I take this opportunity to recognise the work of healthcare professionals generally, who, in effect, bounced from managing a pandemic to immediately trying to resume services and get things back up and running. They are now facing into a winter which will have its own challenges, including the need to address backlogs and, potentially, the need to address any rise in cases in hospitals linked to Covid. That is why it is so important that we continue to do what we are doing. Everyone here knows the capacity our healthcare system has. Everyone understands how stretched we are in this country versus many other countries. In response to many of the earlier comments, I would say that when people sometimes wonder why NPHET makes recommendations that seem entirely disproportionate, it is because we are trying to protect our healthcare system and its priorities and ensure that people who are waiting for essential appointments can have those appointments and that they are not further delayed as a result of a diversion of resources to manage Covid.