Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Health and other members of the Government for their efforts. I thank all Members of the Oireachtas for the leadership they have shown in their communities and constituencies in coming together to fight this invisible menace. I witnessed a funeral in my community this morning. It was very poignant to see people standing silently within a few metres of each other knowing the reason the person had passed away. It will stay with me for a long time.

We cannot repeat often enough that the reason for these measures is so we will not have empty chairs around the table at Christmas. In his endeavours, the Minister will have the support of the Labour Party but that does not mean we cannot ask questions and move to a better system of tackling the issues we face.

We have put down a number of questions for the Minister, particularly regarding the testing kits the HSE had in its possession from 23 February to 5 April. The issue of personal protective equipment for healthcare professionals arises time and again, as does the funding of such equipment.

One of the issues which has come to our attention is the guidance the HSE has given to organisations in the homeless sector. Obviously, there are a number of vulnerable communities which will be more affected by this issue than others. It is quite right to say that viruses do not recognise borders but they sometimes recognise that some groupings and workers are more vulnerable than others. These include those working with very vulnerable people in homelessness services, who sometimes have underlying health issues or addictions. The HSE has issued guidelines for such workers but has not provided PPE for them. Will the Minister comment on that?

I note his comments on the Be On Call for Ireland initiative. Will he provide statistics regarding who has been hired and a breakdown by location as to where they have been assigned? I know he has committed to doing so in response to an earlier question.

I want to ask a question with regard to a previous suggestion in respect of the redeployment of special needs assistants. I believe the Minister's Department engaged with the trade union Fórsa yesterday, an accommodation was reached and a clarification sent out. There was, however, a great deal of disquiet among special needs assistants, SNAs, who were concerned they might be redeployed from the educational setting, with which they are familiar, to a setting with which they are not familiar. It would be appreciated if the Minister would clarify that no special needs assistant will be taken out of the education sphere, with which they are familiar and for which they are trained, and put into a different setting, for which they are not trained and about which they are concerned.

We also want to ask about the childcare needs of healthcare workers. That is coming up again and again. I also wish to raise other issues, although I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to respond to them immediately. He may be able to respond in time. There seems to be an issue within the Department with regard to the renewal of medical cards. There seems to be confusion in that regard. Our own public representative, Senator Mark Wall, is getting different answers from the HSE and the Department with regard to his queries on the renewal of medical cards. Will the Minister speak to that?

I referred earlier to those in homelessness services. Is the Minister's Department, or any other Department, analysing whether individuals facing economic disadvantage or the results of the high housing density, poor housing and higher levels of lower paid work in our society are experiencing higher levels of infection and hospitalisation? Is that analysis being done? If it is not, could it be done? Could we have a conversation in that regard? It is probably not accurate to suggest that we are all as susceptible to this virus as anybody else. This pandemic is ripping a plaster off some of our assumptions about our society and about how it works and is run. If the Minister cannot comment on that now, perhaps he could forward that information to me in good time.

We will have to ask a lot of questions of our society after this pandemic has passed. On one level, it may always be with us. None of us in this House asks these questions to trip the Minister up or to be difficult. We are absolutely beside him as we fight this menace. What I witnessed this morning, however, certainly makes me more resolute, and should make all of us more resolute, to make sure we see the end of this crisis.

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