Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for his kind words. The private hospital deal ends today. As of tomorrow, there is no deal in place but we are looking at a new arrangement with private providers as a short-term measure to ensure we can replace lost capacity in the public system while dealing with the pandemic. With regard to Roscommon, I will have to undertake to get back to the Deputy on the situation with regard to funding.

On the issue of Erasmus students, I do not actually have an answer but it is a great question. The Chief Medical Officer is very concerned about foreign travel but the situation with the Erasmus programme is different. It does not involve people coming in and out of the country in high volumes but rather students spending a number of months or a year somewhere else. It is a great question but I am probably not qualified to answer it. It is a question for the public health officials. I imagine they would probably ask which countries and cities we are talking about. If the Deputy wishes, I will undertake to get some public health advice on the issue for him. It is an excellent question.

See this speech in context