Mr. Robert Watt:

My core job is to work with colleagues in the Department to ensure we can deliver the Minister's agenda, and a key part of his agenda, as the Deputy articulates, is to see the health system recover. I am thankful we are on the way to recovery and to deliver services for our citizens. It is my job to advise the Minister and implement his policies, ensuring the Department is structured as best we can be to support the Minister and the Government. That is my job.

The big challenges we have relate to preparing emergency departments, which see enormous attendance every week. There is an average of 26,000 or 27,000 people per week turning up at emergency departments, with 5,000, 6,000 or 7,000 people admitted into the health system every week through the emergency departments. These are enormous challenges and we must prepare for what we may be facing for the winter, when Covid-19 may re-emerge in some form, and there will no doubt be other respiratory illnesses. They have been fairly quiet over the past number of years but may reappear along with other normal winter-related pressures. There are challenges in the emergency departments to prepare as best we can. The Deputy also mentioned waiting lists, and it is my job to galvanise colleagues in the Department to help the Minister deliver his agenda and that of the Government. That is how I spend my time.