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

Deputy Calleary raised a number of issues. The programme for reopening continued without a hitch right up until this weekend. That is why there was no necessity for meetings. I had conversations with the Chief Medical Officer to keep track of progression. We are progressing well. Society has reopened effectively. The economy has bounced back with thousands more jobs and the number receiving the pandemic unemployment payment reduced to under 100,000. The situation was okay. The public health people were happy with schools. Last Wednesday, the senior officials group was alerted by public health officials about the deteriorating situation. They wanted some more days to see how the data would unfold in terms of a pattern. They decided to meet on Monday. We were apprised of that on Monday evening and took a decision on Tuesday morning, which has led to a different timeline for the sectors involved. The Cabinet Covid committee will meet again next week.

On the recognition of front-line workers, there is a consultation with social partners, including employers, employee unions, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to try to identify the best means and approach to recognise front-line healthcare workers for their work during Covid. The Covid committee is independent of and separate from the healthcare committee, which deals with wider issues regarding capacity and so on.

Deputy McDonald asked about sector-specific guidance. Throughout the pandemic, different Departments have worked with sectors and agencies to provide sector-specific guidance. We will do that with the various areas that are being reopened as a result of NPHET's advice and the Government decision yesterday. The Minister and the HSE are dealing with the Owenacurra Centre in Cork. It is not really a matter for the Covid committee.

In response to Deputy Murnane O'Connor, PCR testing is available for those who cannot get a vaccine and so is antigen testing. The booster vaccination has already been made available for those aged over 80 and is being administered. We have not come across any issues with that with immunosuppressed residents in nursing homes. It will be extended to the over-60s. The HSE will put that into operation. It seems that GPs will be involved with over-70s and vaccination centres could be used for over-60s. Those are preliminary statements and it remains to be put into operation by the HSE, which will make decisions and announce them shortly.

I talked with the Minister for Education about the issues raised with regard to CO2 monitoring because ventilation is important and CO2 monitors create awareness if there is an issue in a classroom. We will get a report about that.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I am not responsible for the issuing of visas for individual applications but I have made it clear that we want as rapid an acceleration of the recruitment of healthcare professionals as we can possibly have in the current situation. Substantial resources have been made available. Some 6,000 additional healthcare workers were recruited last year, with 8,000 to be recruited in 2022. The systems need to make sure that they work in an accelerated way.

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