John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Ministers of State for all their work. I have around eight or nine questions, and I ask the Minister to be mindful of the clock. Some of the answers might be appropriate to make in writing, and I have no issue with that being done.

First I ask the Minister to convey my thanks, as a public representative, to his officials and those in the HSE for the continued Trojan work they are doing on the front line in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic and keeping people safe. It is also important to acknowledge some of the Minister's achievements since he has assumed office. Testing has broken through the 100,00 barrier, which it was nowhere near what it was when he became Minister for Health. The Minister introduced localised testing, which had not really previously existed, particularly in the context of the lockdown in counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly, and he moved very quickly on adapting school testing to the needs and concerns of teachers and parents, particularly those that have been raised in the last few weeks. The Minister, his Department and officials, and the HSE have shown a high degree of agility in that. I also welcome the funding in the budget for dementia, disability and the winter plan. That should all go on the record. The Minister has delivered all of that with a calmness, which often goes unacknowledged.

I refer to my own constituency, and the figures available for local electoral areas.

I have four electoral areas. Positive cases are in excess of the national average in one of them. It is a disadvantaged area. This pattern is replicated nationally. What strategies are in place, given that is a consistent figure, to address this in some shape or form or to address the underlying causes of why positive cases may be more prominent in disadvantaged areas? That is a question.