Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I agree with the Deputy and take the question in the very good faith in which it was articulated. The world has changed. It has changed most fundamentally and the long-term impact of Covid, in terms of how we live, work, recreate and experience and organise life, will be profound. That relates to all those areas. In respect of the lessons we have learned from Covid, the whole-of-government approach to dealing with Covid, with all hands on deck, is a lesson we need to apply to other key crises in our society. The national vaccination programme, for which we pulled together a national task force, has achieved phenomenal results. That is the biggest change in the past 12 months. Ninety per cent of our people over the age of 18 are fully vaccinated, as are more than 89% of those aged over 16. That now enables us to begin the journey of what some might call a new normal or a new or different way of living in regard to how the workplace develops.

As for the housing crisis, a key issue for many people, that whole-of-government model has to be applied to dealing with housing, and not just at national level between all the Departments. A Secretary General of my Department now chairs a group of other Secretaries General to ensure there is a cross-cutting approach to dealing with the housing issue. There are lessons to be learned from Covid because we did cut through on Covid in respect of a number of issues, which we had to do. Time was not an option. We have to try to inject the same approach into housing.

The same is true of climate change, which is quite profound. I recently read a global survey that showed the degree of anxiety among our younger generation about what climate change means for them and their lives into the future. The levels of anxiety among young people all over the world are very high - worryingly high, from our perspective - in terms of their health, mental health and well-being. Everybody in this House has to play their part in tackling that issue, and again it has to be cross-departmental and across society.

In respect of our health services, Sláintecare has not stood still. In fact, at last year's budget, about €1.235 billion was allocated purely for Sláintecare initiatives. The comments of the then director, Ms Laura Magahy, to the Oireachtas committee regarding the budget were very clear. She stated:

All the elements such as beds, community staffing, diagnostic care, social care expansion, etc., that were outlined in the budget, which we went through with the committee at our last meeting, have been funded. We are very pleased with that.

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