Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As of this week, 1,500 people in the Republic and close to 450 in Northern Ireland have lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Taoiseach has said, our first thoughts must be with them, their families and those who are today still struggling to overcome the virus. It remains a serious threat and there is no basis whatsoever for arguing for a rapid lifting of all restrictions. There are, however, significant questions to be asked about actions on particular issues. The restarting of basic parliamentary accountability is welcome. I acknowledge the constructive approach of the Covid-19 committee and its elected chairperson, Deputy McNamara. We wish it well in its work and expect that all who are asked to assist it will do so.

We should increase discussions about what can be done to bring the Oireachtas to as close to normal working as possible while remaining consistent with public health advice. There are many critical areas where public oversight and debate is required and Deputies are eager to fulfil their mandates more effectively. As I have said here over the last two months, during a fast-moving and unprecedented crisis, the last thing we can afford is to be defensive when issues are raised. The most comprehensive and effective emergency responses always involve making space for challenging voices and a willingness to quickly and comprehensively admit the need to adopt different approaches. Mistakes have undoubtedly been made and are being made but it is important to reassure everyone across our public sector involved in the response that no one expects it to be free of error. We must respect and honour the expertise of the professionals involved. There are judgment calls to be made and broader public policy must play an increasingly central role. As long as these judgment calls are based on full engagement with the science and an inclusive and transparent procedure, we should acknowledge the good faith involved. This is why, when we reach a stage where we must turn to planning future responses to either a second wave or a new pandemic, we will need to adopt an approach of learning lessons rather than seeking to apportion blame. We need a more inclusive and multidisciplinary approach to how measures are developed and agreed.

I especially say that in the context of reopening and lifting restrictions. I get a sense that the multidisciplinary dimension is not as evident as it might be.

During these debates, Fianna Fáil's spokespeople are setting out a range of questions based on the input of people from every sector and every part of the country. I acknowledge the constructive and helpful way in which individuals and organisations have been contacting us to give their observations and concerns.

As has been said here every week over the past month, the deal regarding private hospital capacity has to be reviewed. It is now a full part of a system-wide problem of the collapse in diagnostic and treatment activity for non-Covid-19 cases. There is a significant underutilisation of vital hospital capacity that is no longer justified. My party believes that as we move into a wider challenge, there is a need to more systematically engage sectors and general expertise in the discussions.

As we pointed out last month when it was announced, the failure to include childcare professionals in the discussions on the design of childcare supports for front-line workers was a fatal weakness in the Government's approach. As such, no one was surprised by yesterday's announcement that the main scheme was suspended because only nine providers were willing to participate. I acknowledge the difficulties in this area around the public health dimension.

Similarly, the internal proposals concerning the leaving certificate, which are outlined in the media this morning, show a process that in our view should have led to a much earlier announcement of the cancellation of exams. Deputies were inundated with calls on this from parents, teachers and students for a long period. These documents show there was no credible way under discussion to maintain social distancing, employ enough invigilators or even to examine more than half the of the normal range of topics. The uncertainty and public disagreements about what should be done could have been avoided if this information had been shared much earlier. Instead we had a debate based on the false premise that there was a confidence that the exams could be held.

The private hospital deal was an emergency response to the need to create a surge capacity. For nearly a month it has been clear that this surge capacity is not likely to be required. In recent days, it was suggested that extra capacity might be used now to treat public patients - about 30% of the private hospital capacity the Minister set up. Others from the private hospital sector are saying only 30% of the capacity is being used right now. We believe in general hospitals in the public systems that over 1,000 beds are vacant or underutilised.

Overall the situation is a mess. I have been pointing this out for six weeks. The failure to get a proper consultants contract negotiated has gone on too long. The deal with the operators was one of mutual convenience. The State needed surge capacity. The operators have their expenditure sorted in the initial phase probably where their revenue was not coming in. We need a comprehensive strategy - there is none at the moment - to get that hospital capacity back as comprehensively as possible. It has been a very expensive deal. I understand, and I am not criticising, the rationale behind it, but it is being coupled now with a wider underutilisation of vital capacity. We are hearing stories about cancer patients, heart patients and other patients who could have had treatment and earlier procedures but have not had because of this prolonged paralysis in reaching a comprehensive agreement.

Many proposals are emerging and it is important that they are engaged with in a proactive and systematic way. For example, the number of people who need early diagnostics has not declined - the Taoiseach referred to this - and yet the number accessing diagnostics has drastically fallen. Some have suggested that if we pretest every diagnostic patient in advance, it will allow many facilities to operate at close to normal capacity. It is a perfectly legitimate question to ask about why we are spending many millions of euro on hospital capacity we do not believe we will need and which we could quickly recontract were an unexpected surge to happen.

The situation with meat plants is gravely serious and it is not obvious that these clusters are being dealt with comprehensively. Without calling for the shutting down of the sector, it seems very surprising that the blanket testing of a facility is followed by no interruption of work until the results are returned. Would it not be reasonable to halt production for a deep clean and putting in place of new control measures while waiting for the results? Simply sending workers back to work and, indeed, not testing their families does not make sense, particularly given the Minister's assurance that testing capacity is not an issue. There has been a significant lack of transparency on this issue. I have dealt responsibly with it.

I alerted the authorities six weeks or two months ago about the dangers of what could happen. The numbers are high in towns across the country where, ordinarily, there would not have been a high incidence of Covid-19.

More needs to be done on this issue. The authorities need to visit factory floors to see the reality. Táim buartha faoi na monarchana feola, faoin easpa soiléirithe agus faoin easpa comhairle. Tá na huimhreacha an-ard ar fad de réir na bhfigiúirí atá ag teacht amach i ndiaidh na tástálacha. Níl sé seo sásúil in aon chor. I mbailte timpeall na tíre, tá deighiltí soiléire agus tá fearg agus míshuaimhneas ag méadú an t-am ar fad. Thug mé comhairle maidir leis seo cúpla seachtain ó shin agus tá sé in am do na húdaráis dul ar urláir na monarchana chun an réiteach a aimsiú.

We should acknowledge the excellent work of many journalists at national and local levels who have been willing to ask tough questions. Many issues fundamental to the response have only been fully explained to the public because of their persistence. The simple fact is that testing and tracing is fundamental to increasing our options and it is happening faster in other countries. In recent days, an issue about the lack of integration of records and the impact of errors in data inputting has been revealed. It has been stated that we need the entire testing and contact tracing continuum to be completed within three days. However, information supplied to journalists yesterday by the HSE indicates that the median time the process is taking in the community is five days, with many examples of much longer times. It must be acknowledged that much has been achieved since the issue of capacity delays and missed targets for testing was dominant. However, we need clarity on what is to be done to bring down testing and tracing times such that we can quickly identify and respond to new clusters. We hear much about plan, plan, plan. We need a national strategy on testing to encompass whom we test and where we test to use our capacity to the optimal degree and benefit.

The issue of face coverings has gone on for too long. There is broad scientific acceptance of two basic findings. First, basic coverings do no harm in practice and appear to limit the spread of the virus. Second, they are an important part of encouraging appropriate behaviour in public and are critical to getting public confidence to a stage where public transport becomes a viable mass transit option again. Fears that the introduction of a face covering policy would undermine the supply of personal protective equipment, PPE, seem overblown when one considers the impact of such a policy in many other countries. The issue has dragged on for far too long and it is time for it to be definitively addressed.

We need much more detail on the exact financial impact of the crisis on our public companies and institutions. The Dáil will soon have to have a substantive debate and vote on financial matters, so we need to start having an informed discussion about what emergency measures may be required to support these companies and institutions.

Fianna Fáil acknowledges the ruling of the High Court yesterday on the validity of emergency measures the Dáil agreed in recent months. Aside from the legal position, there is no doubt about the strong public support for these measures. I believe that support will continue. We now need a more inclusive and transparent process for discussing how to proceed. We are out of the acute phase of the response and a much broader range of voices need to be brought into the discussions. Only then will we retain public support and ensure that policies are soundly based and effective in opening up our country and ensuring that we limit risks to public health.

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