Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kelly. On young people who were working part-time before the pandemic and lost their jobs as a consequence of the pandemic, the changes we are making tomorrow will ensure that those young people are no worse off than they were before the pandemic. The most important thing for those young people is not the pandemic unemployment payment, rather, it is enabling them to get back to work. The fact that the shops will reopen next week will allow many of them to go back to work. Let us try to get the hospitality and tourism sector, including hotels, open as quickly as possible so they can get back to work. The solution to this is not extending welfare payments forever. It is enabling people to go back to their jobs and get back to work and earn more than they did before.

As the Deputy correctly pointed out, 32% of the cases have been among healthcare workers. That is a very high rate, but it is important not to misunderstand it. It is not the case that 32% of healthcare workers had Covid-19. About 7% of healthcare workers contracted it and tested positive for it, and 93% did not. Sometimes that fact is misunderstood in the way it is reported and spoken about. We do not know why that is the figure. Part of it might be down to a lot of testing. We are one of very few countries, if not the only country, in the world that tested all of the staff in our nursing homes. Healthcare workers can pick up Covid-19 anywhere, just like anyone else does, such as at home, particularly if they are living with other people, in shops and in the workplace. I agree that an analysis of the situation needs to be done and I can commit to that, but it will not be an analysis that will be easily done and may not come to any conclusions. It should be done nonetheless.

The plan to resume normal healthcare is being developed by the HSE. I understand it is due to or has just gone to the HSE board and until it is approved by the board it will not come to Government.

The daily briefings from the CMO and his team are very good. Many people find them very informative. Different countries have adopted different approaches. Across the water, for example, the daily briefings are always led by a Minister or the Prime Minister. I prefer our approach, where they are led by the CMO and medical experts. It is a better approach. Across the water, when the CMO or an expert was asked for an opinion the politicians stopped him or her from answering the question. That is not my approach and this Government has never taken the approach of saying that we do not want to hear the experts. They have their own press conference every day and I think it is a good thing that is the case. It will not continue forever, but it will continue.

On direct provision, I absolutely accept what Deputy Kelly said. Much direct provision accommodation is substandard and that needs to change. Some of it is of a good standard, such as own door self-catering. Some of it is of a bad standard and that absolutely needs to change. The last Government tried to do that and the next Government, if I am part of it, will want to do that. We need to understand the difference between direct provision and a man who was killed by the police by having somebody step on his neck. Direct provision is, ultimately, a service offered by the State. It is not compulsory or a form of detention. It involves people being provided with free accommodation, food, heat, lighting, healthcare, education and some spending money. It is not the same thing as a man being killed by the police. There is substandard accommodation in some cases and that needs to change.

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