Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are three matters. I also raise the matter of student nurses. It is not so long ago we were praising all and sundry on the front line and calling them heroes without capes, which is quite correct. This is a terrible abuse of young professionals, and as Deputy Boyd Barrett has said, the sheer unfairness of their treatment is felt very keenly. Will the Taoiseach intervene and what will he do about it?

There has been evidence of zero-hour contracts being issued. CPL is the recruitment agency named, but if it or any other recruitment agency is engaging in that kind of sharp practice and issuing poor contracts that fall short of what the Taoiseach, as Head of the Government, expects, what will he do about it? Has there been an intervention?

On the matter of testing and tracing staff, we know there are 581 staff working on routine contact tracing. We know 214 of these are seconded from within the HSE and will have to return to their contracted positions. We have confirmation that the HSE is targeting a total complement of 800 contact tracers by the end of the year. It is pure madness that the recruitment campaign was not revved up during the summer months and it only began in August and got serious in September. We have raised this matter endlessly with the Taoiseach because it is a critical ingredient in keeping ahead of this virus and allowing society to function to some acceptable level. Where are we now in the recruitment of 800 contact tracers? By the way, we will need more, but we should start with the 800.

See this speech in context