Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are back in this situation again. We probably all bore ourselves at this stage by saying that we accept that this pandemic is going to continue into the future and that we are still in an incredibly precarious situation. Many of us have probably enjoyed, for want of a better term, the reopening of certain events, but obviously we are looking at everything with trepidation as regards the numbers. The situation has continued and there are very bad circumstances in hospitals. Staff are out and staff are under severe pressure, having been through unreal pressure for a significant time.

The roll-out of boosters for front-line staff is necessary. We all recognise that. We probably hoped that it would have happened earlier. We must ensure that there are no hiccups in the roll-out because any mitigations that can be operated must be carried out, particularly in respect of those who are working at the coalface in medical care. I believe there has to be a wider roadmap and timeline regarding booster vaccines. There is no doubt that there has to be a flu vaccine campaign that is as strong as possible because we know that we are almost in a situation that is the worst of all worlds. Obviously there will be Covid-19, there are people who are presenting with respiratory disorders and there are people presenting with many other disorders and illnesses, some of which have been exacerbated by people not presenting during the pandemic and, therefore, we must ensure that all due diligence and everything possible is done from the point of view of ensuring safety in the hospitals.

We have said many times previously that there has been a failure to deal with the capacity that should be available in respect of ICU, high-dependency units, HDU, and all the other requirements, and that is going to lead to difficulties now. However, we must do everything possible from the point of view of reducing the pressure. At the same time, we all are fed up to some degree of coming back to the House to enact emergency legislation. We accept that there are certain mitigations, guidelines and rules for the ways we need to live our lives into the future, whether that involves masks and the precautions we can take either individually or as a group. We need to look at something closer to primary legislation rather than the continuity of emergency legislation. We need rules to be dealt with in the House, with back and forth regarding the rights and wrongs. We could deal with some of the anomalies that have occurred throughout the many levels and many reopenings. That is what must be done rather than this continuity of emergency legislation.

In the wider area of health, a number of Members were at the INMO protest outside the House earlier. A large number of students were at it, given that we are still dealing with the issue of pay for student nurses and midwives. They called for movement. There is a possibility of movement in respect of first years, but we need greater clarity with regard to the second and third years. The report on pay and allowances must be published as soon as possible. That is their request.

As we are dealing with the issues in the pandemic, it would be remiss of me not to raise the Dealgan House Nursing Home and the fact that it is more than a year since the Minister engaged with the families. He said they need a mechanism to provide the truth. They need an answer as soon as possible. My view is that a public inquiry is the only thing that will work in that case.

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