Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With Deputies Cowen and O'Connor.

I welcome the opportunity to speak about Covid and I acknowledge the considerable effort made in recent weeks to reduce the numbers since the autumn. I commend the Government, but also health workers, the HSE, other public health bodies and NPHET, on their work. Covid has had a major economic cost, but as other Deputies have mentioned, there are considerable social and non-Covid health costs as well that we must focus on addressing early in the new year. We need a community-based mental health programme that will attract people who may not have accessed mental health services previously. We need to address screening delays. We need to consider other public services that have been delayed, for example, driver testing. Public services that required contacts between people during the first lockdown are showing significant delays and causing major difficulties.

We must start taking our public health services seriously. Public health has been the Cinderella of the Irish health services. Now is the chance to invest properly in it so that, as Deputy Fitzpatrick stated, we will be ready if another pandemic arises, but also if we are to deal with issues of obesity and the like that will have a significant impact on the nation's health.

Some issues must be addressed in the next few weeks. We need clarity and consistency in every part of the country about visits to nursing homes. The rules are different depending on the region and are causing people stress. Where access to maternity hospitals is concerned, particularly for fathers, the rules also differ from hospital to hospital. We need consistency.

We must focus on younger people, including teenagers, and get them back to their sporting activities, dance classes and singing classes, which help them. If young people can be in school in a structured and controlled environment, surely they can attend a dance or singing class in a structured and controlled environment. The responsibility is on the class organiser.

Inevitably, there will be a great deal of focus on the decisions taken in the coming days. I wish our colleagues in government well. They will take their decisions with safety in mind, but they need to consider all options. The largest source of Covid outbreaks are private houses. One dissuades people from visiting private houses by providing other options, for example, opening all pubs. Where proper controls are in place, the distinction between wet and dry pubs can be reviewed as a way of reducing the amount of activity in private houses.

There must be co-ordination on the island. There cannot be one law in Blacklion and another in Belcoo even though they are effectively the same town. Consistency must be brought not just to the Border, but to borders between counties. People are being told that they cannot travel between counties, but if they live a mile from a county border like I do, people going about their daily business will travel to Ballina from County Sligo, from Castlerea to Ballyhaunis and from Ballindine and Milltown. During the first lockdown, there was provision for business to be done across county borders by people who lived there. The same provision should be made for the coming weeks.

There needs to be clear information as soon as the announcement is made. We cannot be scrambling for information and trying to respond. There should be one spot where everyone can go to see the announcement.

I wish to signal a concern about all of the calls for 24-7 shopping and retail. We must think about the workers. The calls sound good, but retail workers have had a tough year. They are also on the front line and they, their arrangements and their families should be considered in the coming weeks.

See this speech in context