Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone a happy new year. We are in worrying times and yesterday there were 46 additional deaths related to Covid-19. This is such a difficult time for families. My sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a life through Covid-19. Today we will have more high numbers. We have 172 people in intensive care and 1,750 in hospital so it is a worrying sign for us all. GPs around the country are reporting that not only is there a marked increase in people presenting for tests, more people are sick. Dr. Liam Woods, the HSE's national director of acute operations, said that intensive care figure could increase to 300 by early next week. That is a concern. Our hospitals are straining. What is the Government's plan? Do we have a plan B? Will the Minister please come back to me on that?

Have there been cases of healthcare workers who are close contacts of a positive case being asked to return to work? What protections are there for them, the public and, of course, other staff? I was contacted recently by a constituent in County Carlow who told me that due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, she could not have a childminder in the house so had no-one available to mind her children. She and her husband are both front-line workers who work with Covid-19 patients. She is now working four days per week and they are trying to work opposite shifts because they cannot get childcare. Does the Minister feel that we are on brink of a burnout? It is getting to the stage where family members in one home are going from work to try to cover to make sure their childcare is there. This is hard. This healthcare worker is not alone in being unable to access childcare. Not every healthcare worker can form a support bubble with another household. I heard that 7,000 healthcare workers are in direct need of childcare assistance. What are the plans? What can we do to help these people?

It is welcome that an agreement has been reached in the past week between 16 private hospitals and the HSE, which is really good, to provide additional hospital capacity to deal with the surge in Covid-19 cases. Are there plans to roll out a full policy of care in their own homes for those who have Covid-19 and are very sick but can be monitored virtually from a healthcare setting? This is happening in some hospitals.

I have two more questions and then I will come back to the Minister. We will be getting 40,000 doses per week of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It is welcome. The Moderna vaccine arrived yesterday in Ireland but other speakers mentioned that the UK vaccine, AstraZeneca, is the main hope for us all in the fact it will provide for an easier roll-out and can be stored at room temperature. It is important that we communicate with the public. My phone has been ringing all over Christmas as people want to know what is happening with the vaccine, what is the roll-out strategy and communications strategy and when they can apply for it. Communication is the key. The Minister said he will not have an answer on that until the end of the month. I believe he was at a Zoom meeting this morning with some of the other European health ministers. He might come back to me on that. We need to roll the vaccine out quicker. I know many Deputies have been asking about that. More than 2,000 people have been trained to give the vaccine, however. Are we rolling out more resources now for when we have access to more vaccines? We need to vaccinate straight away the minute we get it.

I am also concerned about creating an online platform for people to register for the Covid-19 vaccine. Not everybody wants to go online. The Minister knows broadband access is a problem and, perhaps, people do not want to register. Have GPs and pharmacists been asked if they can assist in registering interest in giving the vaccine by phone or, perhaps, a drop-in service? Perhaps the Minister could come back to me. I have a few more questions.

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