Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned Covid-19, not as an excuse, but as a reality. The reality is that 5,179 people have died in Ireland with Covid-19. There have been points over the past 18 months when our system was under real strain, and we got through that thanks to the heroic work of our front-line workers in the HSE, allied health professionals and others working across the system. Despite that extraordinary strain, which we hope is a once-in-a-century level of strain that any health system would have to withstand, we have made real progress. When one looks at the report Laura Magahy brought forward - the implementation update in respect of Sláintecare - of the 112 deliverables for the first six months, 84 were on track, 25 were being progressed with minor challenges and three were experiencing significant challenges. That is 97% of those actions either delivered or on track. In the context of what we have had to live with, and what our system has had to coexist and grapple with over the past 18 months, that is a remarkable achievement. I look at the once-in-a-generation increase in the capacity of the health system, with the sanction provided for well over 1,000 additional beds in the acute hospital system. We do not have 20,000 beds or 30,000 beds; we have in the region of 11,000 beds. That is a dramatic increase and a step change that we have made in respect of critical care capacity as well.

The learnings of Covid have been relevant because we are going to have to future-proof our system for events like this that could well arise again. The Government is committed to the transformation of the public health system. It is not going to be easy and there will be challenges along the way. We must assess the reasons the resignations took place. That is why the Minister has had direct discussions with Laura Magahy and Professor Tom Keane and met the Sláintecare implementation advisory council. In the forthcoming budget we will see a further manifestation of the Government's commitment to delivering on the reforms.

Change is not easy but it is certainly not easy when one is living with a global pandemic that has taken more than 5,000 lives in this country. Our commitment is resolute, and it will be brought to bear and implemented through the decisions that we make working with all of the stakeholders across the health system.

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