Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Words are simply not matched with deeds. The major source of infection in the context of Covid-19 is now among healthcare workers. After all that we went through, healthcare workers are getting the virus. Siobhán Murphy described what they are having to deal with. They are working 12-hour shifts and are not getting adequate breaks. Health facilities are chronically understaffed, which means that there are not people available to take over and reduce the number of hours that others are working. Even when people are identified as contacts of those who test positive, they are still encouraged to come to work sometimes because of staff shortages. That is the reality we are facing when infection levels are quite low. What will happen if a second wave arrives? There does not seem to be any focus on this. As I understand the reports, the July stimulus is money to guarantee banks and for big businesses, but there is nothing about building up capacity and recruiting healthcare workers in large numbers in order to reach safe staffing levels and create additional capacity in the health service.

The matter has not received much coverage, but I note that the budget of the EU for health was slashed during the recent negotiations. The money that was supposed to be used to pay for stockpiles of ventilators and to assist national health services to deal with Covid-19 was slashed. As stated, this matter has received no coverage. That seems to be reflected in the priorities of this Government, which is not supporting the healthcare workers and the health service that we need to protect us and that will comprise the front line against Covid-19 in the autumn.

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