Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Can the Minister confirm his Department's position on how people with long-term disabilities and the elderly will be dealt with should intensive care unit resources have to be rationed? The Minister has referred to this already. Will the Department amend the ethical framework for decision-making in a pandemic to specifically refer to people with disabilities and the elderly? I am sure the Minister is concerned, as we all are, about the number of fatalities in nursing homes.

I also want to ask the Minister about a separate issue, which is very important as regards health and safety and community response. The Irish Community Rapid Response air ambulance has been grounded. It is a wonderful initiative which, although it got some support from the Department, was fundraised for to get up and running, and has expert pilots and response times. It is called in to help with serious incidents by first responders in the south west, south east and my area. However, it has been grounded due to its inability to fundraise this last while because of the pandemic. It is a shameful situation. It is only in its infancy but is proven to work. I have the figures and statistics, as I am sure the Minister has as well. We and many other TDs have written to him about the costs and the fact that it cannot fundraise and has been grounded. It is a very valuable service and the pilots, the doctors and medics who are giving their time are now unable to help on the front line.

I refer to the weekly testing capacity. Can the Minister give us a definite answer on that? We need clarity on the numbers and whether tracing is being affected by the fact that we do not have county-by-county numbers. Up to 50 test centres have been rolled out and I salute the likes of Croke Park, the GAA, GAA clubs and others who have given their facilities for that purpose. I do not know whether they are being paid, but they have given them nonetheless. They are drive-through centres. They are there but they are not at full capacity or even half capacity. I know we have had difficulties in getting the reagents and commodities for testing, but we have to expedite testing and get the results much sooner.

I also refer to nursing homes. I am told that if two people in a nursing home are diagnosed with Covid-19, that is all that will be tested and we will not know if there are more. There is also a worry, to which Deputy Bríd Smith referred and about which I have also been contacted, that nurses are now being asked to certify the cause of death for patients. That is wholly unacceptable. The nursing home sector cannot be treated as the poor relation.

However, it has been and we have left it behind. We are only playing catch-up now. We must treat nursing homes with the respect they deserve and give them facilities, tools and clarity. Yesterday morning, they were told that they could not get any staff. On the news last night, however, they were told they could. Things are not adding up. We need total clarity. Nursing homes must be supported in every way, including with PPE and, above all else, staff, especially where staff have had to self-isolate or to stay at home because of childcare issues. In nursing homes, nurses could be asked to certify deaths.

Unfortunately, we have heard of the deaths of two healthcare workers. We did not want there to be any, but there could be others. We do not want to see the numbers we saw in the care home in Laois. Families are entitled to know what illnesses are involved.

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