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

I extend my deepest sympathies to those families bereaved by Covid-19. I wish all those ill with the virus, in hospital or at home, a full and speedy recovery. This Bill is another extraordinary piece of legislation. We were here last week, and we live in unprecedented and strange times. Part 4 concerns changes to allow former registered health workers rejoin their professions and work at the front line, while Part 5 concerns a number of substantive amendments to the Mental Health Act. I welcome the provision and changes being made in Part 4 and I hope this allows for the speeding up of the process for reregistering those health service staff who are retired but who want to come back and do their bit. It will also help those who practised here and moved abroad to reregister quickly on their return.

I offer thanks to the relevant boards, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, NMBI, the Medical Council, CORU, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, all of which will be processing the huge numbers, we hope, of new applications. I know these regulators and their staff are doing great amounts of work at all hours of the day and night to get these applications processed in a timely manner. Similarly, I thank the human resources department of the HSE. The staff there are also working day and night to process the applications and to get as many health workers as possible to the front line. In the midst of all this, I thank them for their hard, and often unseen, work. I thank the staff in the health service, our retirees and our emigrant healthcare workers coming home for all the work they are doing. It is regrettable,however, that we will not be able to register people, particularly where there is mutual recognition of qualifications. We need everybody, and if those people are willing, then I think the Minister should look at that again.

From speaking to many front-line healthcare workers, I note the kindness and generosity shown to them by the public is a powerful motivator. I also note from speaking to these health workers that they are concerned about the lack of personal protection equipment, PPE. Politicians will know health workers do not reach out to us unless they really believe there is an issue which requires being raised publicly. Doctors, nurses, home helps and ambulance personnel have all reached out to me in the past 24 hours to raise concerns about the lack of PPE items as they go about working at the front line of the fight against Covid-19. They are aware there is a global shortage of PPE. They reached out, however, because they were angry and upset at claims being made by health officials and health service management that we have an adequate stock, when the reality on the ground is that we do not.

I want to read a message sent to me by a worker on the front line. This person asked to remain anonymous and I am respecting that request, but we need to hear what that person had to say. That person said that "healthcare workers are putting ourselves on the line for the nation. The minimum soldiers expect is armour. For us, that is PPE." Quite frankly, it is an insult that legitimate concerns about low PPE stocks on the ground were disparaged by a senior HSE official in The Sunday Business Post. That official was quoted as saying the healthcare workers were panicking.

That was humiliating and it was an insult. We were doing nothing of the sort. We were telling the truth. We know there is a global shortage and we know the HSE is trying but let us be honest. We should not be this low this quickly. No one should die at work because of not being protected. When the stocks are short, the HSE must be honest and tell us and prioritise those who are most at risk. The situation is becoming more difficult as we wait for supplies of PPE to arrive, with 24% of those affected by this virus being healthcare workers. I know we are being told we have orders of PPE arriving, and that is most welcome. However, in the here and now, front-line healthcare workers are telling us there is a real shortage of PPE. This is reflected in the campaigns many hospitals are running, asking for immediate donations of PPE from companies or individuals who might have some, and I urge anyone who has any such equipment to come forward and to donate it.

We are all in this together but our healthcare workers are on the front line of this emergency. I urge the Government to secure a reliable domestic production line of various items of PPE in order that we can be assured we have a stable, steady and reliable supply of this vital equipment. Yesterday, I asked the chief clinical officer, CCO, Dr. Colm Henry, to brief Deputies with the specific advice from the World Health Organization that prompted the change in advice on testing. The WHO says "test, test, test". It is very clear on that matter. The Minister needs to understand there is a real fear in our communities and this fear is added to when people who were told last weekend that they needed a test are now told they do not need a test but that they should stay at home and behave as if they have this virus. This change is causing a huge amount of worry and these people are coming to us. They are nervous and upset and they are worried to be told one day to have a test and then to be told the next day that they do not need that test.

I thank the Bills Office and the various Departments that worked long and hard to draft this legislation. I also thank the ushers, the catering staff and all of the workers who keep this House running. The implementation of this legislation will go a long way to getting healthcare workers to the front line as quickly as possible, as we work to tackle this crisis.

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