Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss Ireland's response to Covid-19 and I thank the Deputies in the Labour Party for tabling the motion. I have read it carefully and it contains many very good ideas, many of which are in line with approaches being taken or being considered by the Government at present. I look forward to an ongoing constructive debate throughout the House as we navigate our way through this very difficult global pandemic.

Before I continue, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives to Covid-19 in the past year. It has been an incredibly difficult time for our country and it is important that we remember these family members, friends and colleagues.

I am sure all Members of the House will join me in paying tribute to our healthcare workers and, of course, the other front-line workers who have worked tirelessly since the beginning of this pandemic. Last night's "RTÉ Investigates" programme provided a stark insight into the enormous pressure that our healthcare workers are under, as well as the extraordinary professionalism and dedication they bring to bear on our behalf every day.

Ireland's National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, was established on 27 January last year, days before the WHO declared Covid-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern. Since then, Ireland's approach to Covid-19 has been informed by the guidance and evidence from the WHO, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and, obviously, advice from NPHET, together with close working relationships with colleagues throughout Europe. The Government remains absolutely determined in its resolve to tackle the spread of Covid-19. The comprehensive disease prevention and control strategy adopted seeks to prevent the virus spreading among our population to the greatest extent possible.

The aim of the strategy is to limit transmission of the virus through a range of public health measures, including our testing and tracing contact programme. The resilience and recovery plan is based on a public health approach to the pandemic, and aims to suppress the virus to the greatest extent possible while allowing society and businesses to operate as much as possible. It was designed to help people and organisations anticipate and prepare for the measures that might be needed to suppress the virus.

The pattern of disease in Ireland is broadly similar to what has been observed in many other European countries. Like most of Europe, Ireland began to experience increasing Covid-19 infection rates in late summer and into the autumn. We achieved reductions in these infections by escalating measures in line with the plan following advice from NPHET. Most recently, as we are all acutely aware, infections increased again, and this occurred at the same time as the circulation of a new variant, the so-called UK variant. Again, measures were escalated in line with the plan. As a result of public support and adherence to the measures, we now have the fastest-decreasing 14-day incidence of the disease in the EU and we are about mid-table in terms of our 14-day incidence. This is as a direct result of the efforts of people to stay at home, limit their contacts and follow the public health advice.

While we have seen reductions in hospitalisation and ICU admissions in tandem with reductions in our case numbers, we need to make further progress to reduce the mortality that, tragically and inevitably, goes with higher incidences. Our average daily case numbers are still around 1,000 cases and they need to fall very considerably further than that. The Covid vaccine programme is a vital part of the public health response, and roll-out of the vaccine programme has started well and is ramping up.

Given the international dimension to the virus, we have worked closely with European partners on our approach to the spread of the disease. We have moved from an advisory regime to a mandatory quarantine regime that involves enforcement measures and penal provisions. Detailed work on new travel measures, including the drafting of primary legislation to provide for designated quarantine facilities, is a priority. In addition, new regulations provide for mandatory home quarantine for arriving passengers.

Increasing capacity across the health and social care sector is a priority for Government and is fundamental to the response to Covid and ensuring the ongoing delivery of non-Covid care. Investment was provided as part of budget 2021 to fund an additional 1,146 acute beds, excluding ICU beds, on a permanent basis, and that is over and above the number available at the start of 2020. Efforts will also see increased capacity in primary and community care, which will reduce pressure on acute services and provide more healthcare options closer to people's homes, in line with the Sláintecare vision and plan. The strategic plan for critical care aims to bring permanent adult critical care capacity in Ireland to 321 by the end of this year and to 446 after that, which is in line with the recommendations of the health service capacity review on critical care. We have also secured agreement with private hospitals to provide up to 30% of their capacity, if required, to deal with surges in Covid-19.

Infection protection and control is, of course, of critical importance and significant additional funding is being provided to enhance the health services in infection prevention and control responses across acute and community services. As Deputies will be aware, we are targeting efforts at other sectors which are vulnerable to infection, including ongoing serial testing, now-weekly serial testing in residential care facilities and ongoing serial testing in food production facilities.

We recognise the need for consistent consideration of how best to support women through the pandemic, including our predominantly female health and social care workforce and, of course, formal and informal carers. Improving women's health is a priority, as laid out in the programme for Government. A big investment in women's health has been made for this year, including additional funding for maternity services, gynaecology services and actions arising from the women's health task force.

Cross-Government collaboration is essential to the response to Covid-19. We have worked together to introduce measures to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19, including the pandemic unemployment payment and support for businesses, which includes businesses and pubs in rural areas. Some €221 million has been provided for the tourism sector and over €100 million in supports has been made available to date for Irish airlines and airports.

Finally, the Government is committed to close and productive co-operation with Northern Ireland to foster commonality in approach. This includes significant engagement in co-operation between the Chief Medical Officers and the two Departments of Health.

I wish to finish by acknowledging the widespread support for public health restrictions by the public and the solidarity shown by communities and citizens and residents right through the year. As we have so far, we will continue to get through this together.

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