Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will email an 11-page briefing note on the mobile app to the Deputy this evening and make it available to other Members on the appropriate forum.

The Deputy made an interesting point regarding the representation of psychiatry on NPHET. I will discuss the matter with its chair. The Deputy is correct that there is a significant mental health challenge. I am due to engage with several mental health advocacy groups in the coming days. Deputy Browne suggested last week in the House that there is a need for a mental health task force to consider how to deal with the mental health fallout. I will revert to Deputy McNamara on the issue. I am advised on mental health by the Chief Medical Officer from a clinical point of view. There is a mental health division within the Department of Health. The Deputy's point on NPHET and mental health is well taken.

On being the decision maker, I am the decision maker in the sense that I am accountable to the House. If I choose to accept the decision of NPHET, that is the decision I make. It is not the case that an unelected group of people are the decision makers as has been somewhat suggested. I decided at the start of this public health crisis that we would be led by our public health response. The plan we will publish tomorrow will be more than a public health response. It will be a Government plan for which the Government will be accountable. It will factor in a range of matters that are compatible with public health and it will follow public health advice. It will also deal with broader matters such as the economy, as the Deputy mentioned.

On the issue of nursing homes, I am not sure to which briefing note Deputy Connolly was referring. Currently, I rightly spend more time on nursing home issues than on any other relating to the pandemic. I have twice-weekly meetings with Nursing Homes Ireland and meet HIQA at least once a week-----

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