Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions. Nobody knows for sure what we are going to face into this winter with the health service. Much of that will depend on the pandemic and on whether cases peak and fall, continue to rise, or level off at a certain point. Looking around Europe and at other parts of the world, it is hard to know for sure what trajectory we are going to follow. We will respond to it in a strategic and nimble way.

What is clear is that our health service, our hospitals and our primary care are going to be very busy this winter. They are busy every winter but this winter is going to be as busy as any we have seen in the past and perhaps more so and the system will be under pressure. That is because of three things: the impact of the pandemic, which is ongoing; regular health care needs which have not stopped; and a significant backlog of unmet health care need because certain services were curtailed or shut altogether in the early stages of the pandemic.

We are doing a number of things. Phenomenal additional resources - €22 billion - are being spent this year in the health service. That extra €4 billion that the health service had in a previous year is being retained. The health service is receiving more funding in 2022 than many Opposition parties even called for. There are an extra 850 beds in the system, above where we were when the pandemic began, and more can be added. There is additional intensive care unit, ICU capacity and more funding for community care, home care, general practice and for the use of private hospitals, as appropriate and as needed, under the existing agreement. These are all the tools we can use at the moment to manage the situation.

The second aspect is the vaccine booster programme, beginning this week for all of those between 60 and 80 and is already under way for people under 60 who are immunocompromised. The next group that has been approved is healthcare workers, and I believe this can be done very swiftly. I welcome NIAC's decision in that regard. NIAC will next consider people under 60 who have chronic conditions and who may well also need the booster shot. There is very good evidence from other jurisdictions, including Israel, the country first vaccinated and first boosted, that the booster shots are very effective. We are going to see an extensive booster programme and all of us in this House have called for that.

On ventilation, there is advice in the Work Safely Protocol which is agreed between Government, unions and employers, and that is updated regularly. Serial testing in nursing homes and the extension of antigen testing to schools are under review by NPHET.

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