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

I am sharing time with an Teachta Darren O'Rourke. I want to ask the Minister about the advice given by the Chief Medical Officer that the restrictions on nursing home visits were premature. Will the Minister acknowledge that vital time was lost and that this is contributing to the fact there are more than 200 clusters of this virus in congregated settings throughout the State? This is an issue I have raised repeatedly with the HSE. Two weeks ago I was advised that teams of infection control personnel would be going into nursing homes. Yesterday, I asked what should have been a fairly simple question on the exact number of personnel involved but I could not get an answer. If this is a priority, and the Minister will need to convince us that it is, he should be able to tell me how many staff are actively working in the nursing home sector. Of the nursing homes surveyed by Nursing Homes Ireland, 29% have not received contact from the HSE. If we are going to be proactive about managing this pandemic in the nursing home sector, the Minister should be able to tell me how many people are actively involved in it.

I have a number of questions and I will ask them all together. Will the Minister publish in full the deal between the State and the private hospitals? We understand the Taoiseach has confirmed it is worth approximately €115 million per month. My understanding is that this is the absolute minimum that will be paid. Will the Minister confirm whether a minimum figure has been set? What is his estimation of what the maximum figure will be? Is there a minimum amount of time for which this deal is in place? Have we purchased a certain number of weeks, months or days from the private sector? Are we obliged to pay for these regardless of whether they are used? Will the Minister also tell us how many people are in the private hospitals and how the hospitals are being utilised?

I have a question on swabs taken before the case definition was changed.

I have seen on social media medical personnel tweeting that in their opinion some of those swabs may have been discarded. We know there are people waiting, in some instances, more than three weeks for the results of tests. They do not have very much confidence that they will ever get a result but can the Minister confirm that every swab that was taken will be tested and a result advised or that the people will be advised that although they had a swab the result will not be notified to them?

I raise with the Minister the case of a woman by the name of Paula. She works as an SNA in a school for children with special needs. She finished work on 12 March. She became ill on 15 March. She was tested on 23 March and she is still awaiting confirmation of her result. This morning, she contacted the National Virus Reference Laboratory and was advised that a positive test had been sent back to public health after four days. Fair play. There was a quick turnaround time but nobody told her. In the intervening time, her daughter has had a test cancelled because she did not fulfil the criteria. Her daughter has subsequently become ill. This family did everything they were supposed to do. They isolated, but she was left chasing that result for herself. I ask the Minister to indicate the number of people currently working per day on contact tracing. How many contacts have been traced for the past fortnight? If he can provide that information either here or in written form I would be very grateful.

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