Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Covid special committee did a lot of good work. I pay special thanks to the Chairman, Deputy McNamara, and the secretariat. I would also like to highlight my colleagues on the committee who were elevated to office, including the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, and the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I am not sure where Deputy McGuinness went, but we certainly felt his loss from the committee.

With regard the original proposition of the committee on the day it was formed, I said I wanted to be part of a committee that would be constructive and look forward. I understood very well, as most people did, that there were significant failings in the Government and social response at that date but I felt we needed to keep looking forward because, as a number of Members said, we are not out of this yet by a long way.

I would like to highlight some of the challenges that were discussed in the committee. Early on we were faced with the PPE issue. Great credit must go to private industry in Ireland, which liaised with and opened supply chains in Asia to the HSE to get PPE into the country.

We must, of course, acknowledge our front-line staff and the heroism they displayed despite a significant lack of resources, some of which could not have been envisaged. We also know the issues that arose in nursing homes, which were highlighted again during this debate. This was a new learning experience. Nobody could have foreseen what happened. We tried to prioritise ICU beds and perhaps that led to a failure to transfer people from hospitals to nursing homes without having adequate testing in place.

With respect to testing and tracing, I would like to mention Ireland's call, which was a huge response from Irish people at home and abroad. Expats returned to Ireland. We had more than 70,000 responses and it was a great shame that we did not utilise the people that responded to that appeal. I am not sure that more than 800 or 900 people were employed as a result of it. It was a significant bank of goodwill that we should have used, and we should continue to use it.

I would also like to highlight the meat factories which, as has been said, have major difficulties with convection, conditioning and temperature. The issue of congregated settings arose in direct provision centres and factories.

I refer to an extraordinary deal that was done in the early stages of the pandemic with private hospitals for surge capacity. It is a pity that the Minister for Health is not present or I would remind him how strident he was in calling for that deal to be examined. Significant bed space was booked that was not ultimately required but the elective capacity available in private hospitals was not booked, which was definitely an own goal on the part of the Government.

Other elective work has been deferred. The committee examined travel and transport, including public transport issues, which led us to the issue of mask wearing, something we should have been doing from the start. I asked for masks to be required at the end of March.

Tom Parlon from the construction sector told us that there would be a 40% increase in the cost of building the children's hospital. He might be proven right after all, if the current evidence is to be believed.

It was important that we produced a interim report on the July stimulus. There are many good initiatives in the stimulus, to which everybody contributed. To be fair, the Government and Minister for Finance took on board some of what was said.

We have learned a great deal about NPHET. Deputy Murphy, who has left the Chamber, alluded this to the fact that it was in place. I voiced my frustration in the committee quite a number of times, not necessarily with NPHET but with the way in which access to it is provided. Dr. David Nabarro from WHO stated lockdowns are not a good step. At the moment, we are going against that conventional advice but perhaps we are doing so because we have to. I believe that we are doing so in large part because we do not have adequate testing and tracing or rapid testing in place. The Minister has left the Chamber. I asked him some weeks ago whether we could provide a platform for industry to engage directly with NPHET. There are significant numbers of thought and business leaders and their opinions could have been heard.

In respect of rapid testing, the Tánaiste was before the enterprise committee yesterday and spoke about the HIQA report into some rapid testing measures, including antigen testing, which I raised with NPHET almost five months ago. He said it appeared that, according to HIQA statements, it was not that efficacious. That is extraordinary. How many antigen tests were examined in a pool as opposed to some of the specifics?

We produced interim reports on testing and tracing, nursing homes and stimulating enterprises, all of which was valuable work. We also asked where we are now. I hope that the Government takes on board the committee's recommendations. I agree with Members who said that it is a pity that the committee has been disbanded. We probably need it now more than ever. Significant expertise was built up by Deputies and other senior experts in the committee. It would be good to have that level of interrogation of our state of readiness at the moment.

There are Covid pathways in hospitals, which is very good from the point of view of managing and trying to defend against the introduction of disease. However, that has happened at a significant cost in terms of delays to other elective treatments. We heard about people who are waiting on operations, in particular those who are awaiting diagnostic tests for cancer. That is something that needs to be moved up the chain of importance in the HSE. We must defend against Covid, but we must also find ways to deal with diagnostic cases. I asked the Minister to consider increasing the hours available in our public hospitals where there is large capacity after 4 p.m. to carry out diagnostic tests and imaging if we can find the wherewithal with the workforce to do that.

Beyond that, we also examined the future economic outlook. We have taken on unprecedented levels of borrowing and also have unprecedented levels of mandated unemployment. We need to think about what the economy will be like when we get out of this.

The experience of a large proportion of our private indigenous and smaller SMEs - I remind everyone in the Chamber and anybody watching the debate - is completely at odds with what is happening in the public sector. These people have been furloughed and indebted, and have experienced significant reductions in their pay. They are not able to get out and socialise or open their businesses. We must reconsider increased special measures, particularly for that sector, where a number of businesses have fallen through the cracks of the stimulus provided.

Most of all, we need social solidarity. We need to consider these further supports for the critical sectors while, at the same time, reflecting that we must get on top of the disease. Testing and tracing is the key. We will have to bring in rapid testing because it is quite likely, despite all the optimism, that vaccines in any numbers will not be here before April at the earliest . We are going to have to deal with the issues of Covid for a long time. It is the responsibility of everybody in the House and every citizen to try to ensure that this lockdown is the last we impose on the people. We must find a way of living with and managing Covid, and keeping businesses some way able to operate, even in a very small way, as Deputy Durkan noted. We must allow people in small businesses and private mom-and-pops to be able to get some income into their stores and to get some of their lives back.

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