Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I also thank the Deputies for their suggestions and measured responses. This is a matter no one will want to politicise in the weeks and months ahead and it may well go on for many months. The Business Committee made a wise decision in not advocating for a full Oireachtas committee at this stage. We have a relatively small number of very competent and hard-working health officials, including the Chief Medical Officer and his team, some people in the HSE and some other senior public health officials. While this issue has become very topical in the last week or two, these officials have been working flat out on this issue since January. Many of them have not even taken a weekend off since then. We need them to be able to focus on their jobs and also get some rest. We also need to ensure they do not spend all their time being held to account instead of doing their job. I know we have to get that balance right and there has to be a balance.

Regarding what is being done, there have been, and there will continue to be, briefings for party spokespersons on health. Indeed, there was one today. There will also be a weekly briefing for all Members in the audiovisual room. This will be for people who get constituency queries and want a mechanism to funnel those queries to people who can answer them. They are not always politicians; in fact, they are usually not. The weekly briefing in the audiovisual room will, therefore, be to assist Members and their staff with such queries.

The Government took a decision this week to establish a Cabinet sub-committee that will meet for the first time on Monday, under my chairmanship. The senior officials' group behind that has already met twice. A stakeholders' group has also been established so that we can keep in touch with and inform employers, unions, civil society and others in advance of decisions being announced. That group has already met and will meet again. In addition, it has been signalled to the HSE - I spoke to the CEO of the HSE today - that necessary resources, over and above its budget for this year, will be provided to allow it to take whatever actions are necessary to contain Covid-19 in Ireland. For example, the decision was taken today to open any closed intensive care unit, ICU, beds. As it happens, no patient has yet needed an ICU bed, but it is still a good precaution to prepare for that eventuality and to make more isolation facilities available, as needed. The Cabinet sub-committee has been set up and the stakeholders' group has already met. The HSE has been given the green light to use additional resources, staff and financial, as needed so that we are able to contain Covid-19 for as long as we can.

It is also worth reminding the House that under the Constitution, the Government continues until a new one is elected. The terms "caretaker" and "acting" are not used in the Constitution. The Government continues until a new Government is elected to replace it and it continues to have full executive authority. We are mindful, however, that it is a political convention that no major new policy decisions, public appointments or financial allocations will be made without consulting the Opposition parties. That will be done. I am happy to give exactly that assurance. It may be necessary to come to this House to seek legislative changes. We will be able to clarify that on Monday. We have strong legislation regarding public health and we do not believe, at this stage, that it needs to be enhanced. We may need to enhance legislation on employment and social protections so that people are not disincentivised if they are asked to self-isolate. We will have clarity on that, most likely on Monday after the Cabinet sub-committee meets. It is possible for the House to legislate before a new Government is elected if we have consensus on legislation and that is the basis on which we will operate.

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