Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will direct my first question to everybody. Has a deadline been set for the roll-out of vaccines for all front-line staff who are in contact with patients or potential patients? If not, why not?

My second point relates to student nurses. Has the emergency nature of the call to student nurses to work in extraordinary circumstances in which they would not normally have to work been established? They are putting their health and lives at risk to a large extent. Has the emergency nature of the need to respond been conveyed to the HSE and the Minister? If not, why not?

How should the concerns raised today be relayed through the system to the appropriate authorities? Delays have taken place and I understand why all of the people concerned are upset and annoyed at the delay that follows the need for action in any particular area. I do not want to go into particular details. We, as a committee, need to know how best we can deal with that in order to bring it to the attention of the powers that be.

Have any of the witnesses been told the reason for the delay in the service plan? Will that become a job for us in this committee?

What is happening with the consultant posts to which people have been recruited but whose training has not been progressed in the meantime? Is there a cost to the system as delays continue to occur in this regard and, if so, what is that cost?

Finally, I congratulate all involved in the delivery of health services. It has been all hands to the pump. The health service providers in this country, as represented by the witnesses, did very much better than counterparts in many other countries, even though they were coming from a position of there being serious gaps in the system.