Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the range of questions and I will write to her on the answers I do not reach. I received a letter from Ms King of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as well and either I have written or am about to write to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, about it. I had a meeting with representatives of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation about it as well. There seems to be logic in what they are trying to achieve with respect to the capture of data, and I would like to see engagement with them to see how best to do that. We will read the Deputy's Bill when it is published.

The Deputy is asking a couple of questions that will, in truth, be a policy matter for the next Government. We will need the extra capacity in beds and staff as well. I spoke to Mr. Paul Reid, the chief executive of the HSE, about this today. It is possible we have a once in a generation opportunity for doctors - not exclusively doctors, as we are also talking about nurses and others - who came back to be on call for Ireland to stay here. Let us keep them here. Perhaps some are planning to leave to go to Australia or America but have not done it yet because of Covid-19, and we have a chance to keep them. I note the comments made by Mr. Paul Reid at his press conference today. This must be addressed and I think he is of a mind to do it.

My position remains the same with respect to catch-up programmes for screening, etc., and these will be clinical decisions made in the programme. I welcome the fact that from 6 July, screening letters will start going out from CervicalCheck. The Deputy pushed for switching to a HPV test as well and there will be an information awareness campaign about these processes. I spoke to Dr. Colm Henry about that today.

With regard to the Deputy's question on winter planning, there must be a real focus on the community network along with community measures and the flu vaccine campaign. I will write to the Deputy about the rest of the questions. I will come back to Deputy Carthy on the Carrickmacross matter.

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