Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Deputy Feighan would like some time as well if that is okay.

I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, on his appointment, I wish him the very best of good fortune into the future. I want to echo the Ceann Comhairle's words earlier as well - when the Minister is successful in his job and is doing a good job it will impact on the lives of many people. I wish the Minister every success and offer him every support as well. I hope everybody in this House will do likewise because he is in what is ultimately a life and death Department. It is a very serious position, one of huge responsibility. I have no doubt it is a daunting task for any Minister for Health to step up to the mark and take on the job and I wish him the very best in the time ahead.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the role of the former Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and acknowledge all of the work that he did. It was a very difficult task indeed and particularly in the context of Covid-19 it was a hugely challenging role. I also want to acknowledge the former Ministers of State who served with him, Mr. Jim Daly, Mr. Finian McGrath and Ms Catherine Byrne for their work. They are no longer Members of this House but I want to acknowledge the years of work that they put in as well in the service of the people of the State.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Revised Estimates. It is very important that the necessary and required investment be made and approved by this House. I want to acknowledge the outstanding response that there has been to date to the Covid-19 crisis by everybody involved in our health services. When I talk about everybody I mean everybody who is at the front line in our communities throughout the country, everybody who has been working behind the scenes in all of our health facilities, everybody who is working in the Department of Health and the HSE and all of the team who have undoubtedly played a huge part in saving many lives all over this country. We will perhaps never know the people whose lives were saved. We can however be quite certain looking at other countries and the huge devastation felt there that thankfully we have not had the types of numbers that some countries have experienced. We can be pretty sure that there were many lives saved here.

I also acknowledge the huge suffering that is still ongoing and the huge loss that is being felt by people. Many families throughout this country are grieving loved ones right now and have not even come to terms with what is happening yet. One person I spoke to recently who lost a family member was saying that it is all like a blur; we are still in the middle of this crisis and maybe it will hit us sometime soon, or perhaps later. I want to acknowledge those people. In my thoughts today are the thousands of people around the country who are mourning a loved one and who perhaps did not get the opportunity to say goodbye to them in the way that we would normally do and in the way that is customary, something that has been very painful for people.

It is very important, as the Minister said, that we continue to remind everybody that this crisis is not over.

One of the biggest risks this country faces at present is complacency that we are over the worst of Covid-19. We know it has not gone away and we know there is a risk of further new cases and, unfortunately, further deaths. The soundings that have been coming from people such as Professor Holohan and many others in recent days need to be amplified. This is why I was glad to hear the Minister's comments today. It is very important that we continue to remind people they need to be careful and look after themselves and others in the time ahead. I commend "RTÉ Investigates" for the programme aired last night. It was timely given that we moved to phase 3 of the roadmap yesterday. The programme showed people just how serious this is and how important it is that we continue to be vigilant and look after ourselves and each other.

I hope the Minister's tenure in the Department will be successful and I wish him and all the people working in the health service the very best in the continued fight against Covid-19.

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