Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will. The Deputy raised a matter but I am very conscious that on the floor of Dáil Éireann, our national Parliament, I am trying to balance the answering of questions with the protection of rights of individuals and requirements under law to protect the identity and medical confidentiality of residents. I know the Department of Justice and Equality and the HSE issued a joint statement on 23 April and I am told by the Department that officials are trying to provide as much information to local representatives as they can. That is the balance I am trying to strike and I am certainly not trying to avoid answering the Deputy's question. I would be more than happy to come back to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae on this matter in conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality.

The Deputy is not wrong with some of his assertions on private hospitals. We have tried to ensure we have control of these private hospital facilities in case we need them, and we might still need them for a Covid-19 surge. The Deputy is right and I am thankful we have not seen it yet. We have not run out of ICU capacity in public hospitals, thank God, but we could well have done so. According to a model, we could have had 2,200 people needing ICU care today in Ireland and I am thankful that is not the case. We may yet need that, God forbid, if things go badly.

The Deputy is correct to ask, now that we have seen a different trajectory to the virus so far, whether we could use these hospitals for non-Covid care, including some of the issues raised by the Deputy. The short answer is "Yes" and it is our plan to try to direct more work into those facilities in the coming days and weeks.

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