Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have two questions for the Minister. I have listened carefully to all his replies. I gave notice of my questions and I really would like them to be answered specifically. I ask him to clarify the position on testing and residential settings. I asked the Minister the number of residential settings and where they have been tested. In his speech he said that 18,000 samples had been taken. Where were they taken? Have the results been given? I ask him to clarify according to the question. I am conscious of time, but I point out to the Acting Chairman that the clock is not running, so we will gain from that by the looks of things. Are direct provision centres included in those 18,000 samples in residential centres? If not, why not?

Regarding private hospitals, the Minister gave us the heads of agreement. I have not seen the agreements. The Government is paying €125 million a month for private hospitals, and I welcome the extra capacity. However, in Galway the consultants have advised that they are functioning at 25% capacity which means that 75% is idle. I have any amount of correspondence about essential surgery not going ahead, particularly in gynaecology and in cancer, despite having two hospitals 75% under capacity.

I do not share the trust that others have in the Minister and the Government regarding residential settings. I have meticulously gone through all of the briefings and even the most recent one fails to refer to nursing homes. It curtly refers to direct provision. The Minister stated that the 18,000 samples do not include direct provision centres in spite of the debacle in Cahirsiveen. Since March I have repeatedly raised the issue of direct provision with the HSE via email. It referred me to the Department of Justice and Equality. Residential direct provision centres and nursing homes should have been top of the list.

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