Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The parliamentary question related specifically to contact tracing.

The HSE is now saying that it misled the Dáil in relation to the parliamentary reply it furnished to me rather than misleading me here this morning. This is part of the difficulty we have had. We are getting information out of two sides of the HSE's mouth in relation to what is going on here. I had this conversation privately with Dr. Kelleher, in that we cannot get clarity regarding the numbers involved here. The HSE is saying that there are almost 900 staff, 430 of which are allied health professionals such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech therapists, carrying out swabbing today while nurses who have applied through Be on Call for Ireland who are capable and qualified to do this have not been taken on to fulfil the swabbing role. Instead, we have the speech therapists, the occupational therapists and physiotherapists carrying out this role. That is completely unacceptable.