Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I spoke this morning about our concerns, which are held throughout the House, about personal protective equipment. Following on from Deputy Ossian Smyth's contribution, I want to focus on the dental profession for a moment.

There is great concern among those in the profession. They believe they are still getting conflicting advice that is putting them in danger. The view coming from several dentists is that much of the work they do is elective and can be put off. They are willing to do emergency work that needs to be done, but they need personal protective equipment to do it. They do not have the equipment and they believe they and their families are at risk. There is also risk of further spread throughout the community. These concerns have been around for several weeks now. The Government and the HSE need to get ahead of the matter and bring some clarity to the situation.

I am keen to focus on one section of the health service, namely, the disability services. Many of the largest providers of disability services are section 38 organisations but a considerable amount of vital work is done by section 39 groups, such as Rehab, the Irish Wheelchair Association, Enable Ireland and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland. We are all aware of them and they are well known. They provide incredible front-line services. Like many front-line providers in the State, they are certainly not immune to the effects of Covid-19. In January, just as the election was called, service providers were informed that the HSE planned to make a 1% efficiency saving throughout the disability budget. This amounted to a €200 million cut from a budget of €2 billion. If implemented, it would mean services would be cut and planned services would not go ahead. In the current climate, organisations like the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association have had to close down their shops. These shops have been a vital fundraising arm for them, especially since they have been cut to the bone and face more cuts this year. With that funding arm closed due to the Covid-19 restrictions, they are under immense pressure at the moment. There is extraordinary pressure throughout the entire health service but we need to ensure the organisations providing these services are able to sustain them at current levels, at a minimum, in order that we can survive Covid-19. We can then take a fresh look at it when things settle down and we return to some form of normality.

We welcome many of the measures in the Bill relating to health. The re-registering of staff was raised previously. We have no wish to see people being bogged down in red tape. Many former medical professionals are willing and ready to work. Several in my constituency have contacted me - I imagine they have contacted my constituency colleagues too. They are chomping at the bit to get onto the front line to save lives. It would be fantastic if we can get them through as quickly as possible.

The provision of ventilators is a concern. Going into this crisis, the figures for Ireland and our intensive care unit capacity were not great. We were at the bottom of the class compared to our European colleagues. We would like to see more clarity on the provision of ventilators and the time lags we are looking at before they will be delivered. I hope we will not have to use what we purchase or get and I hope we stay ahead of this crisis as best we can. However, we need to plan for the worst. People are really concerned about this.

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