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

I will share time with an Teachta Kerrane.

Before I ask my questions, I acknowledge the passing of a care worker in a nursing home in Swords who died of Covid-19. I have been in touch with some of the families in the care home, who are devastated, as are the residents and the people with whom she worked. I do not want to come in here and not acknowledge that because it is a big blow to the community.

The nursing homes sector is reporting a severe difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff. In a survey of 252 nursing homes, we have been advised that there are over 1,000 vacancies, of which 330 involve nurses and 427 are healthcare assistants. Further pressure on recruitment has been caused by the failure to address the childcare needs of healthcare workers. As I am sure the Minister is aware, the proposals he made were not just offensive to lone parents, they were functionally useless for the vast majority of people, as illustrated by the response of the unions. If somebody does not have a spouse working in the public service who is not on the front line, there is literally nothing for him or her.

The Minister said that the CEO of the HSE met with Nursing Homes Ireland on 19 February. Would he not have noticed at that stage that there was going to be a problem? The failure to prepare happened. They clearly were not ready. It is a bit mysterious that the CEO did not realise that. There is an urgent need to address staffing issues and to assist the sector to respond. To that end, has consideration been given to utilising the capacity in private hospitals to assist the nursing home sector? I acknowledge that securing capacity from the private sector was the right thing to do but there was no need for it to be a bonanza for it either. The announcement on 24 March was made but from what we can gather no deal was done for some weeks. That time could and should have been used to negotiate a deal that was good value for money. This open-ended arrangement is far from that. The taxpayer is on the hook for a minimum of €345 million. Has consideration been given to using the capacity that exists within the private hospital sector or redeploying some of the workers, who are telling me that the hospitals have up to 80% vacancies and are so quiet that some of them may be forced to take annual leave?

It was the Minister who raised the potential relaxation of restrictions in his interviews with the media at the weekend. Immediately following those interviews, I was contacted by parents and other people anticipating relaxation. The Taoiseach said this morning that we cannot be complacent.

He is bang on in that regard. In addition, we must not encourage people to be complacent. The Government needs to stop sending out mixed messages. It needs to be consistent and not fly kites because doing so raises expectations. The Minister did so and, in response, people contacted their local representatives and talked among themselves about when and how the restrictions will be lifted and whether it will be on 6 May or at another time. Those questions were not in people's minds until they were put there.

Will the deficit in nursing homes be addressed? Will the capacity in private hospitals be used? I ask the Minister to provide details regarding where nursing homes and home carers can get a steady supply of masks. I am not referring to medical masks but, rather, non-medical masks, as now recommended. In addition to those working in nursing homes, home helps need access to such masks and they wish to know where they can access them. Several of them have, rightly, contacted Sinn Féin.

Is consideration being given to the usage of masks in the community as an element of any relaxation of restrictions? I ask that the Minister provide details of the supply chain for those masks. In certain other countries, masks are being handed out on public transport and in public areas. Is that where we are going? If it is, are we ready for it?

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