Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We all understand we face an unprecedented threat to public health and to society. Our first priority must be to do everything we can to avert the tragedy and calamity that we see unfolding in Italy which, understandably, is striking fear into the hearts of many in this country and across the world.

As others have done, I extend my condolences to everybody who has lost ones whether it is in this country or Italy or anywhere in the world. We must do everything we can to minimise that tragedy and protect people against the threat of Covid-19.

The first thing that must be done to do that is to support, equip and resource our health workers, who are the front line and who are putting themselves on the line to protect our health. As the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control clearly underlines, we have not done that. We do not have enough staff, we do not have enough beds, we do not have enough ICU capacity, we do not have enough personal protective equipment and we do not have enough laboratory testing capacity. Consequently, we urgently need to provide those resources to support those health workers and all those who are volunteering in their droves - the heroes who are now volunteering to build up the capacity, support and resources that we failed to provide for health workers and services in this country. Our particular plea, which we have made over the past few weeks, is that given that we do not have that capacity, we must support health workers who are coming into the health system financially and in every other way, that is, by paying the student nurses and immediately and without hesitation, taking control of private laboratory capacity and private industrial capacity that could be used to produce personal protective equipment, as well as getting hold of any stockpiles of personal protective equipment in order that it can be provided to our health workers who are currently rationing it in hospitals. That is the situation. I urge the Government to do that. There should be no negotiations or discussions regarding companies that can produce ventilators. We need that productive capacity to produce that equipment.

We need to support our essential workers and reward them. Retail, public transport, power and water workers and public servants who are putting themselves on the line need to be supported and resourced and I hope we learn forever the importance of these people, who have often been very undervalued and underpaid in our society.

We need to support everybody - the millions of people who through staying at home and practising social distancing are protecting our public health and the ability of our health service to cope with the surges that are coming. We need to support them. While I welcome the Government's change of heart regarding increasing the €203 payment to €350, we must remove all stresses, burdens, anxieties and worries from the shoulders of people who have lost jobs and income and who are at home and contributing to the public health effort. I would say to the Minister and Taoiseach that we need to press the pause button on rents, mortgages and utility bills until we are through this emergency. We need an amnesty for the duration of this emergency in order that those pressures are not coming down on the shoulders who, through their actions, are contributing to protecting us all.

Finally, we need to protect the vulnerable. We need to protect the homeless, people with disabilities and people living in overcrowded conditions. As all public health advice says these things are bad and weaken our ability to prevent the transmission of viruses like this, we need any empty apartment blocks, hotels or spaces that could be used to ensure that people are not living in overcrowded conditions to be requisitioned immediately and made available to people in order that they are not living in those conditions. Many are asking that given that the Government has now recognised that €203 is not enough for workers who are laid off to live on, whether it enough for our pensioners, those with disabilities or those who happened to lose their jobs six months or a year ago and who are looking for work. The answer is "No", so I hope we will learn these lessons. What is essential? It is protecting our health services and the vulnerable so that we as a society can come together to face the threat of Covid-19 and come through it with the least possible tragedy and calamity.

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