Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on her appointment. She has made history and yesterday was a great day for women and for the House as she is the first woman ever to have been elected to the position.

When GPs refer people for swabbing and they do not turn up, what can be done? Should penalties be put in place? When people are supposed to turn up for a swabbing but do not so, there has to be some consequence.

To continue on a point made by Deputy Collins, what are the Minister's plans for engaging with nursing homes, both in my constituency and throughout the country, in which I believe there are 400 of them?

Finally, I raise something that I raised with the Minister yesterday. Can we audit hospitals on the basis of their turnover of staff? Certain hospitals in the country have a massive turnover of nurses and other staff and I want to know why that is the case. Is it that the workplace is not a safe environment for them? There has to be some problem within the structure to explain why there is such a high turnover at particular hospitals in the country. Can we find the problem and help fix it?

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