Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My time is very short so I want to get straight to it. I would like the Minister, in his response, to propose some solutions, particularly regarding Covid versus non-Covid care. I am sick and tired of commentary, which I do not want any more. I want to know what the Minister's plan is, what his solutions are and where we are going. I would like him to tell us as much as he can. While I know the demarcations are tight, I do not want any more commentary.

Communications by the Minister and his team also need to improve because the Irish people need this. We do not need any more kite-flying about issues relating to entering people's homes, on-the-spot fines or all of the other mess we had last week about pubs and restaurants. From a communications standpoint, just throwing things out there is not good. It is bad and desperate and it has to stop. The Minister's predecessor, the current Minister with responsibility for higher education, Deputy Harris, is going around like an emeritus Minister for Health. He is not giving the Minister much space. I am sad to say this but in a way I am glad the previous Minister is doing that because at least there is some projection of confidence and consistency.

Earlier, the Minister said we all have to work together and I am 100% with him on that. As such, my criticisms are honest and come from the people who are talking to me. We also need to propose solutions to the Minister, however. The Labour Party produced the Sick Leave and Parental Leave (Covid-19) Bill 2020. These proposals would be the right thing to do at any time but they are absolutely necessary in a pandemic. We have outbreaks of Covid in meat plants in my home county, as the Minister knows. There will probably be more outbreaks in similar settings and other settings elsewhere in the country. Workers cannot be left in the position that if they do not go to work, they will not get paid and then decide, because they are human beings, to take paracetamol and go into work. The Minister has the capacity to deal with this issue, on which I have proposed a Bill that I have given to the Government. We also need to ensure that people who go home to look after their children do not lose their wages as well. All of those working in childcare also need to be looked after.

When the Minister was in opposition he often spoke about the health Vote. It is not organised along programme lines, meaning that for service areas, we cannot see where funding goes. The Minister had an issue with this, as did I. One cannot see where money is being spent. The Minister should sort this out because I want to see where the money is being spent. The Minister was absolutely aghast at this when he was in opposition so I ask him to please sort it out.

I have a quick-fire series of questions. The Minister may respond to them at the end as I have very little time left. We need the winter plan to be published and it must be comprehensive. I would like the Minister to focus on separating Covid from non-Covid treatment and, in particular, how we will move diagnostics into the community. I want to see how additional intensive care beds will be created and how the Minister will ensure we get the staffing we need considering the issues we will have with bringing in foreign staff. I want to see how we will ensure more supports are available for GPs and how we will start self-referrals for testing, which is absolutely necessary now. I want to see how we will ensure regular screening of healthcare workers takes place at all times given the figures showing the number of health staff becoming infected. I want to see how we will ensure we have more consultants. If there is one issue on which the Minister is out on a limb, it is the delivery of more consultants into the system. How will he do that?

I do not have enough time to go into the confusion about testing in airports. We need to deliver some solutions in this area. On the issue of testing in general, how will we bring in the population testing in use in the rest of the world? How will that fit in to what we are doing?

I ask the Minister to speak a little about where we are going on the capital side. There have been some very good initiatives, hospital prevention measures, etc. One announced in Thurles in my constituency involves scanning the elderly to prevent them ending up in acute care. What is the plan for capital and has there been any impact arising from the utter shambles of the National Children's Hospital?

Those are the types of issues on which I would like some clarity, although I have a whole range of others I would like to raise. Maybe the Minister will be able to respond later.

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