Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for their contributions to the debate. I have a script to hand but I always choose, in responding to debates, to address the issues raised by the Deputies who are still in the Chamber. That is how I operate.

Lest I forget, there is one point I would like to make before responding to the points raised. As we move to level 3 and open up the economy, if that is what happens, businesses might consider setting aside an hour or two for older people and people who are vulnerable to do their shopping. It might be for two hours on a Sunday morning, for example, in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It would be a very kind and thoughtful thing to do.

I am not part of the team that meets with NPHET and, as such, anything I say does not carry as much weight as statements by the Minister for Health. The last time I was in the House for a debate on the Covid situation, we discussed the number of people who were deployed to contact and tracing, an issue that was raised again by a number of Deputies this evening. At the end of September, there were 866 people involved in swabbing and contact tracing. Today, there are 1,700 staff involved in that effort. It is important to note the breakdown of that figure. In regard to contact tracing, 530 staff have been newly recruited to that work and another 70 will start next week. We currently have 1,000 people involved in swabbing, which includes 440 newly recruited personnel. The recruitment drive that happened is showing results.

I will deal now with an issue that was raised which relates to my brief of disability services, namely, the situation of family carers. The hurt, frustration and anxiety they have been enduring since March is unimaginable for any of us unless we are in their shoes. As Deputy Connolly pointed out, many have had no access to respite. I am working on that issue. We have designated day services for persons with disabilities as an essential service and we intend to do the same for respite care. I am just waiting on the go-ahead to ensure those services, as opposed to being deemed emergency care, will be opened up in the same way that they were in the past. I acknowledge and pay tribute to family carers. When we talk about front-line workers in various services, we must include family carers in that bracket.

Deputy Ó Murchú queried whether swabbing was taking place in a particular organisation in his constituency. I probably read the same article the Deputy did and I cannot answer his question this evening. In regard to the facility in Drumcar, it is important that I take this opportunity to pay my sympathies to the family of the person who died there due to Covid. I do so in the same way that I would pass my sympathies to anybody who has lost a loved one. I will look at the issue of whether people living in residential settings - not just nursing homes but also day houses and respite houses - have the protection of a programme of continual swabbing. There seems to have been a gap in this regard and it is something I am examining.

My colleague, Deputy Calleary, referred to the importance, as we begin to open up our society again, of focusing on activities for young people. As a former spokesperson for children and youth affairs, I agree that we must look at how we can enable children to access dance classes, sports and so on. We need to allow them to reintegrate back into their communities and move on with their lives. The Deputy's point about the importance of social interaction for well-being is very valid. I have two young children who are taught in pods in their school. We should be thinking about using pods on the sports field. In fact, we are doing that one night a week in our local GAA club.

Deputy Cowen referred to the need for trust. As we go forward into whatever level we move to next - it looks like it will be level 3 - we must ensure that people have trust in our business community, cultural community, sporting community and communities at large. That is necessary if we are to ensure that some normality will be returned.

Finally, it would be wrong of me not to mention borders in the context of whatever restrictions may apply in the future. I live in Portumna, which is on the border with County Tipperary. A move to level 3 would mean that I could not go across the bridge and that people in Portland could not come into Portumna to shop. We need to look at the wider question of how we can allow communities to live.

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