Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow up the issue of any questions not being answered with the Deputy directly. I assure him that this is not the case. The Taoiseach and I met his party leader yesterday for two hours, as we generally do once a week. We also have the HSE briefing, two hours of questions and statements in this House, and a daily press conference with the Chief Medical Officer to update the public, but I am very eager that the information flows.

I said I would try to sort out the matter of the student radiographers before I got here. There are about 55 of them and we have been looking for that mechanism. Let me be clear that student nurses did not get paid for being student nurses. Student nurses were offered the opportunity to be employed and paid as healthcare assistants, and many thousands of them have taken us up on that offer. I have a proposal whereby we offer student radiographers the opportunity to be employed as assistant radiographers, and I have asked that my Department and the HSE meet SIPTU on that as their representative body. That is the proposal I would like to put forward. My Department and the HSE will engage with SIPTU, if they have not already commenced that engagement.

I have an 11-page note on the mobile app because I knew the Deputy would ask me about it and I said I would update him on it. In the interest of time I will have to share it with him but I will share it with him and any Member of this House now. We want to get this right. It will only work if there is public buy-in. I commit to coming back to this House prior to launch to take any questions and to publish any information that is relevant and helpful. This will only work if the people of Ireland download the app and buy into it, otherwise it will just be something nice that people will get a launch out of but which will not make a blind bit of difference. We need buy-in from people.

I take the Deputy's point on the criteria but the criteria for the easing of restrictions have now been clearly articulated by the Chief Medical Officer. We need ICU admissions to be lower than they are. There were 70 people in ICU with Covid-19 when we brought in the current restrictions and there are still 103 today. Despite the progress, there are still more people in ICU now than when the Chief Medical Officer thought it necessary to advise the Government to lock down. There were 160 people in hospital with Covid-19 at that time, and there are still, on average, around 700. We had about 200 cases a day on average then, and we still have that many and more now. The behaviour of the disease is still not where we need it to be. As the Deputy rightly said, it is not only one metric; we are looking at a number of things.

Regarding blood transfusion, I take this opportunity to encourage people to donate blood. It is, as the Deputy says, a reason to get out of the house, but it is also a good and life-saving thing to do.

On the issue of face masks, there will be no pride here. If the evidence changes and our experts believe it should be done, it will be done. I believe they are going to look at the matter again tomorrow. They have already changed their advice in relation to healthcare professionals, based on international expertise. A number of countries have changed their view on face masks or face coverings for the population at large and I think it is likely that that is going to happen here.

At least in certain circumstances, an advisory or guidance would be issued. I do not envisage us making the wearing of face masks mandatory, only that advice and guidance would be given so that people could make informed decisions.

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