Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Noonan for his questions. I echo his comments on the protest. There is an onus. It is easy to criticise a protest when one does not agree with its cause or the reason behind it, but it is more difficult to do so when one does support the cause. That does not mean we can be silent on it, though. What happened to George Floyd disgusts and repulses everyone in this country and probably all sane-thinking people across the world. At the same time, we must be conscious of the fact that any gathering, no matter how worthy the cause, is a danger to public health at the moment. As the Deputy mentioned, there are other ways to make our voices heard. The Deputy's party has a proud tradition of protesting and highlighting social issues, so I appreciate the call that he is making for people to adhere to public health advice.

On the issue of disability day services, there was a good meeting with Inclusion Ireland yesterday where this was one of the topics we covered. I expect that the HSE will have an update this month on how it will begin resuming those services. We might have some encouraging news in respect of children with disabilities as part of the move to phase 2. On the general issue of reopening day services, however, a great deal of work is being done with various organisations. Helpfully, some of them had redeployed their staff to assist us in the Covid effort. There remains a bit of work to do.

I appreciate the Deputy raising the issue of Traveller health. It has been one of my great regrets that we have not got the Traveller health action plan published yet. I urge whoever the next health Minister is to get that done quickly. It is nearly there. It is a good piece of work that has been in the making for quite some time.

I will write to the Deputy on this matter, but many measures have been put in place to assist the Traveller community during the pandemic, including regular meetings between Traveller health units and the HSE's social inclusion units. They were initially occurring at three times per week but now happen once per week. A national helpline has been up and running since March. There is a specific website resource page as well as extra communications. Under the criteria, Travellers have been classified as a priority group for Covid testing by GPs. There is a Covid Traveller response team. Travellers have been included in specific guidance for vulnerable groups. There are posters and videos. There is a digital partner pack on the HSE's website. The primary healthcare professionals in Traveller health units continue to work. I am satisfied that a great deal of work has been done, but I will write to the Deputy in detail.

Similarly, the HSE has produced specific guidance on preventing and responding to Covid-19 in the Roma community. While the Roma do not live in congregated settings such as homeless services, they often reside in overcrowded accommodation in the private rented sector, which can pose a similar risk in the spread of Covid-19. There is a national helpline for queries from the Roma community and more than 700 calls have been made to it.

We have translated information in booklets and on posters into Romanian, Czech, Slovak and Romani. The HSE produced a Roma information video and outreach work in the Roma community was done in CHOs 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. I will write to the Deputy with more details on this.

On the issue of non-Covid care and the plan for same, the Deputy asks a very valid question. The Secretary General of the Department and I met the HSE's CEO, chief operations officer, chief clinical officer and the chairman yesterday. The HSE plan was to go to the board of the HSE yesterday evening and it will then be shared with my Department. My understanding is that the HSE board was considering the plan yesterday evening. I expect the HSE to be in a position to update us on that in the coming days. Really good work is being done by the HSE in that regard.

In the context of how we utilise the private hospital capacity, the HSE has identified a number of additional patients who may be suitable for treatment during the month of June. It amounts to over 4,000 additional patients but I will write to the Deputy with some more detail on that. The NTPF has identified the patients in question.

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