Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to start off with the subject of testing, on which we have never had a satisfactory answer. We have been told we will get to a point, on 18 May, when it is hoped we will be able to test 15,000 people per day and carry out the associated tracing. Last week, the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach were at pains to point out that this is about capacity to test rather than actually doing the tests. Many people would be of the view that 15,000 is the minimum number of tests we should be carrying out per day in order to get on top of the virus in the community. The likelihood is that there are thousands of cases in the community that have not been identified because the case definition has been so narrow.

Why does the Minister make that distinction? It makes me worried that he is not determined to get us to the point that we have been promised we would be at for a very long time. I would appreciate clarification on that.

Many issues arise about facts and figures. It is disconcerting that the Government is not upfront about providing all of the necessary figures. Three weeks ago, I made the point to the Minister that while the reports are on different age cohorts, for some reason all of the data for older people are for those 65 years plus, up to over 100. I asked the Minister if he would arrange to have it broken down into ten-year phases but I did not hear back from him. It took me a very long time to get answers on this and I finally got an answer by going through a circuitous route. We know that 93% of deaths are in the 65 years plus category. What I found out is that within that very large category, 14% of deaths were among those aged 65 to 74 years, 33%, a third, were among the 75 to 84 years age group and nearly half, 46%, of all deaths in this country are in the 85 years plus age group. They are very revealing figures. It would have been helpful if we had access to them all along because they point to what the strategy should be in terms of identifying people in those at-risk groups.

Last night we also got the figures for the different disease categories in terms of underlying conditions among people who have died. Again, that is very helpful. Those figures should be available and they should be the basis on which the targeted response is designed. We need more information on the daily testing rates and the daily tracing rates. The Minister should provide those to people and they will have more confidence that there is a clear plan that is being worked to.

Equally, in terms of the roadmap, we need to know what the criteria are for going from one phase to the next. Instead of generalised criteria being suggested, we should know what the figures are and what level we need to get down to in terms of hospitalisation, ICU and deaths that would allow us to move on? That brings me back to the point about timely testing and tracing. We need to ensure that in the three week time lags between each phase, as set out, we allow sufficient time or that testing is done sufficiently quickly, and there is sufficient turnaround to have meaningful figures to determine whether it is safe or not to move on to the next phase. It is critical that that happens.

I also want to speak about direct provision, which others have mentioned. Again, we need figures in that regard. Last night the CMO said 88 people in direct provision had developed the virus. Yesterday at the briefing, a figure of 150 was provided. Today, the Minister provided yet another figure, that is, 164. It seems that the official figures being reported are strictly for direct provision centres. However, there is a reception centre in Balseskin, the biggest such centre in the country. Recent reports indicate that about 90 people there have been diagnosed and had to be moved out because such centres are highly unsuitable to start with, but they are particularly dangerous in the case of a virus. Could we have clarity and data about direct provision plus the reception centre figures being provided?

I reiterate a point made by other Members about the need to resume the screening programmes. The Minister said he will be guided by the expert advice. That is fine, but as part of that, the priority must be to provide follow-up screening for cancer patients who have already been diagnosed and treated. Follow-up screening is absolutely essential for those patients and I ask the Minister to give priority to the issue.

I welcome the fact that the Minister is going to meet dentists.

There are serious problems for patients who have delayed their treatment, building up more serious problems, as well as problems for dentists who, unlike GPs, do not receive capitation fees. The viability of whole dental practices is being called into question.

I wish to add my voice to the question of disability groups. About a third of disability services are provided by not-for-profit organisations. A number of Members attended a briefing they held yesterday. They depend hugely on fundraising, often charity shops and various events. Their capacity to fundraise has been decimated. Many will run deficits of about one third of their funding. The sector will be severely hamstrung in its ability to provide decent services for the very many thousands of people who depend on them, including people with disabilities, adults and children, vulnerable people, people with intellectual disabilities and mental health issues, and all of that. A Covid-19 fund must be established for that sector. They will not have an opportunity to make up that huge gap in funding that has been created by that loss of fundraising. Will the Minister consider meeting them? This is going to be a huge problem and it needs to be addressed at an early stage. The Disability Action Coalition is the umbrella group for those organisations. I appeal to the Minister to do that.

Will the Minister give the go-ahead for the flu vaccination to be made available free of charge? Every year 4,000 people are hospitalised with flu, which is more than have been hospitalised with Covid. We simply cannot afford to have another round of flu this winter when we are still trying to deal with the Covid issue.

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