Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials in the Department of Health and those working in the HSE on the front line of this healthcare challenge. I express my very sincere best wishes to those who have contracted the virus. I hope they have a very speedy recovery. I sincerely hope that those who are worried about contagion can get the comfort and the information they need. Many of us here this evening have been privy to briefings. The fact that we still have questions, and questions are being asked here this evening, should serve as a signal to the Minister that more information is needed. If we still have questions after the briefings we have had, we can only imagine the questions people outside this Chamber must have.

The Minister knows well that we have a serious and ongoing issue with capacity in our health service. We know the causes. We have discussed the failings of Government policy on many occasions at committee, in this Chamber and elsewhere. I do not want to dwell on the policy decisions that have brought us here, but I note that the capacity of our health service to respond to the challenge of Covid-19 is dependent on the availability of staff. We have heard from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, that staff are queuing up to be hired - those are the INMO's words, not mine. Staff members are available but they are not getting contracts. They need to get them as a matter of priority. Regardless of whether the Minister chooses to acknowledge it, the recruitment embargo has to be lifted without any delay. The emergency needs to be dealt with in a practical way. The only way to deal with it is to recruit and hire more staff.

We need to be cognisant that a whole-of-Ireland approach is needed if we are to address this challenge meaningfully. That means we need to have an all-Ireland public health approach that maximises the benefits of being a small island while ensuring we meet the challenges we face as an island. Practically speaking, this means harmonising the advice given between North and South; ensuring the provision and sharing of capacity between North and South; if necessary, a ring-fenced and dedicated all-island budget; a joined-up approach to the purchasing of essential equipment and devices; the unlimited sharing of medical information between North and South; and the development of an all-island model of contagion. These are practical steps that will serve to protect our island. We managed the outbreak of foot and mouth disease as an island and this outbreak should be no different.

The Minister and I both know that the single biggest determinant of ill health is poverty. The poorest and those in the lowest-paid and most precarious work are likely to be impacted very heavily by this emergency. We are asking the Minister to waive any waiting period for sick leave to ensure workers who get up early in the morning but cannot afford to lose a day's pay are compensated. We are also asking the Government to be very clear with employers that they have to play their part.

I wish to take this opportunity to request that a plurality of voices is brought into the decision-making process from this Oireachtas. I do not want to upset the work of the national public health emergency team and the HSE national crisis management team in any way, but rather to work to help with this serious public health emergency. With the greatest respect to the caretaker Minister, in a few weeks he may not be the person in charge of the Department of Health. For that reason it is imperative that there is high-level involvement from the main parties in this House, so that if the caretaker moves out and the new Minister moves in there is continuity, no time is lost and the new Minister can hit the ground running. I hope this request is taken by the Minister in the spirit in which it is intended; that is, as a constructive suggestion.

I ask the Minister to focus at least some of his advice on those who are living with the consequences of the housing emergency. How can someone self-isolate if he or she is living in a family hub? How can a person in a homeless hostel self-isolate? Will additional respite beds be provided? Let us think about this practically. If a person is caring for someone in his or her home, he or she cannot self-isolate unless that person can be cared for.

I pay tribute again to the front-line healthcare workers who are at the coalface of this challenge. I pay tribute to the families that are now dealing with this and trying to ensure good sense prevails. They may need to access respite services. They need to know that such beds are there, not that they are coming, and that they can self-isolate quickly. People want to act in the interests of public health but they need to know that the Government, in whatever capacity, will be on their side, will provide the facilities they need and will respond to the needs of carers, who have a very particular concern at this time of public health emergency.

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