Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start by thanking colleagues across the House for their time this evening and for their input, questions and proposals. It is very galling that our public healthcare system and our patients, some of the most vulnerable people in the country, are the victims of this vicious criminal attack. It is a despicable attack which shows scant regard for human health or human life. I acknowledge the very real anxiety that patients right across the country are feeling tonight, felt earlier today and yesterday and will feel in the days to come. Patients are desperately waiting for treatment. In some cases, it is urgent care. In others, the treatment may be less urgent but the patients may have been waiting a very long time, often too long. I include adult patients and the parents of children who need treatment in that remark. There is great worry and anxiety, which is very understandable.

We have to do everything we can. I say to those patients, and to the parents and families of patients, that everything that can be done is being done. There are hundreds of people working across the State right now to get these services and systems back online as quickly and as safely as possible. In so doing, we are prioritising the most urgent services including radiology, radiation oncology, the patient administration systems and work with the voluntary hospitals, some of which are less compromised than HSE services because of their standalone systems. While it is going to take weeks to get all of the services back up and running according to the latest information we have, we envisage some of the more urgent services coming back online, part by part, in the coming days.

I acknowledge our healthcare staff. They have been the very best of us over the last year. They have stepped up day after day, first in dealing with one virus, Covid-19, and then in dealing with its variants. It has been a brutal year in healthcare. Our healthcare staff right across the board, both clinical and non-clinical, are exhausted. They have shown themselves to be the very best of us. At a time when we were beginning to get a bit of breathing space and when the country collectively was suppressing Covid, as it still is, and when the vaccine programme was going from strength to strength, as it also still is, we were beginning to again have conversations in healthcare about waiting lists, building more hospitals, supporting GPs, hiring more clinicians and doing all of the wonderful things that need to be done in healthcare. Then the same people were hit by this. They are now working in our hospitals and community teams right across the country. They are under incredible pressure. They are doing their very best for their patients but things are slow. The patients are, very understandably, frustrated. I ask people who have to go to emergency departments, where things are slower than anyone would like, to be understanding of our healthcare professionals, as I know people will be. They are doing their very best. They are trying to get people triaged, assessed, treated and scanned as quickly as possible but everything is taking longer because of this vicious attack. I pay tribute yet again to our healthcare professionals who have stepped up, this time to deal with a different type of virus.

The Government takes IT security and cybersecurity deadly seriously. For example, the HSE budget has increased. In 2019, it was €130 million. Last year, it increased significantly, to €145 million. This year, it is €203 million. Critically, in this year's national service plan, the funding for IT staff has been almost doubled. As of last year, there were approximately 400 staff. That is being increased by in excess of 350 additional staff. There are massive increases in funding and in staff. We all know why.

While this is taking time, steady progress is being made. Many highly professional, highly patriotic people are working within the HSE and the National Cyber Security Centre. The Defence Forces have been involved, as is the Department of Justice. A whole-of-government approach is being taken. Steady progress is being made. I thank the people involved. They are working every hour, night and day, to make sure that our services are restored and, most importantly, that patients get the urgent care they need.

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