Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

We face a very serious and potentially very dangerous situation. As this debate has been going on, the tenth case in Ireland has been publicised. It is being reported that this is the first case with no known link to northern Italy. The person who has unfortunately contracted Covid-19 was not in northern Italy and potentially got it from someone in this country. The worrying trends in other countries show the potential for exponential growth in the infection rates and the impact the virus will have on our society. It is clear that any weaknesses in the health service will be ruthlessly exposed.

It is worth looking at the situation in South Korea, where there has been an explosive growth of the virus. More than 500 new cases have been discovered in a day. The South Korean health system is now on the verge of running out of hospital beds for those who need them. South Korea is a country with 12 beds per 1,000 people; Ireland has three beds per 1,000 people. If we get into that kind of situation, the weaknesses of our health service, which are the product of decades of underinvestment by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, mean we will have a very big problem indeed. This underlines the need to invest in building a properly resourced and adequately funded national health service, with a massive expansion in staff and resources. In the immediate term, it underlines the need to avoid this level of exponential growth.

I have no doubt that the workers on the front lines in our health service and other parts of the public service will work as hard as they can to cope with and prevent the further spread of Covid-19, but a key element of successful containment is public co-operation. The HSE correctly instructs those who have symptoms of the virus to self-isolate for 14 days. That is a big responsibility and a big ask of ordinary people suffering from a cough, shortness of breath or fever. The State needs to step up to assist those people in doing this. That will be of benefit to those individuals, but it will be of particular benefit to society as a whole. This means being serious about providing people with assistance in dealing with the impact on their lives. Those who are self-isolating will not be able to go to work or look after their children. What provisions is the State putting in place now to assist those people and ensure they are not afraid to not go to work because they will not be paid or will lose their jobs? Such people might go to work even though they feel a bit sick and think they might have the coronavirus. We need emergency measures to introduce mandatory sick pay. Businesses must be forced to continue to pay their workers if they stay at home, either because a workplace shuts down and instructs people to stay at home or because workers themselves contract the virus.

If the business cannot pay, it must open its books, prove it cannot pay and the State should step in to cover the costs. In the case of school closures, which may have to become widespread, all of a sudden, parents are in a crisis and they should also be allowed to stay home from work and continue to be paid. Similarly, those who rely on welfare should no longer be required to go into dole offices and interact with others, and so on. If we do not take such measures, it will be disastrous because people simply cannot afford to forgo their pay cheque or to leave their children home alone.

My final point relates to one which has already been mentioned and concerns those who are living in overcrowded conditions. We are facing a housing crisis. Generations of families are living in single housing units and overcrowded emergency accommodation and hubs. I was contacted by someone whose family suffers from Bart syndrome, a disorder where those affected have a very weak immune system because of their white blood cell count. The family is living in emergency accommodation with around 40 other families, including more than 100 children. There are communal play areas for children and kitchen areas for families to cook their own food. Visitors are only allowed in the reception area. This family has to avoid all of those amenities because of the danger of contracting an infection. If they or someone in the homeless hub were to contract coronavirus, one can imagine how rapidly it could spread. Again, action is required. Could vacant buildings be taken and used immediately to provide necessary housing for people?

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