Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute, first and foremost, to the men and women in the healthcare services who are working day and night at the coalface of this crisis. This relates to the issue of personal protective equipment. It goes without saying that it is no easy task to procure personal protective equipment internationally at present. However, it is really important that we take care of our healthcare professionals. They are extremely exposed. Right across the world, healthcare professionals are far more likely to catch this illness than probably any other section of society. We have an enormous duty of care if we are to send those people into the front line that they have the necessary equipment to deal with that front line.

A week ago the HSE stated that it had an adequate level of personal protective equipment, PPE, and yet I and many Members in this Chamber have been inundated by contact from healthcare workers, for instance, by social media, by phone and by WhatsApp, to say that they are scrambling about the place trying to get PPE. Can the Minister state what exactly is the situation? Can he guarantee that healthcare workers have what they need?

Regarding the primary issue of the crisis, I wish to draw the focus back. There has been precious little debate thus far about the State's strategy. Countries like China, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong have adopted the strategy of trying to stop this virus. They have looked to suppress the transmission of this virus and have done everything they can to do that. There is a second strategy, which is called mitigation. Mitigation is about slowing down but not stopping the spread of the virus until at least the very long term. In other words, it involves seeking to reduce the peak healthcare demand while protecting those most at risk from this severe disease from infection. The European Union, the US and Britain have all opted for a strategy of mitigation - obviously, at different levels of severity. Until this Thursday, Ministers of the Government stated that the measures this State will take will not stop the spread of the virus. My understanding is that it seeks to mitigate, not suppress, the situation. Today for the first time, the Taoiseach said that the Government is seeking to suppress the transmission of the virus. Could the Minister tell me whether it is the case that the current strategy and all the other strategies of the Government at the moment will stop the spread of the virus? Aontú believes that mitigation was wrong. The EU is now the epicentre and soon Britain and the US will be in that position. I believe Ireland should follow the lead of those countries that have successfully suppressed the virus. The house is on fire; we need to do all we can to put it out now and to play for time.

Last week, the Minister for Health stated that there would be 15,000 tests done on a daily basis for coronavirus in this State. It followed the logic of the WHO, which said that we need to test, test, test. The countries that have brought an end to the spread of the virus have done so in large part because of testing. South Korea, which was mentioned earlier, is testing at a rate 3.5 times the rate of this State and five times the rate of North of Ireland. In Vó, Italy, where the first cases of the virus in that country were diagnosed, they have managed to stop the spread of the virus through aggressive testing. They have gone a step further. They are testing asymptomatic people in order to get ahead of the virus. In other words, there is a ripple in the pool and they are looking to go to the farthest ripple to stop the virus at that stage but this Government is not doing that at the moment.

We have seen two high-profile media personalities recently tested for Covid-19. I believe they have done the State some service in discussing their own symptoms here. However, given their statements, they would not have met the current criteria for testing in this State and it is likely that they would have gone undiagnosed. If there is a mismatch between capacity for testing and the demand for testing, it should be addressed by increasing the level of testing in the country.

I also want to mention an amendment that seeks to reduce further the human right to life. Given that so many people at this really difficult stage are doing their best to save human life, it would be shocking for us to weaken the human right to life in the State any further.

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