Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I am deeply concerned. Today, my colleague, Deputy Mattie McGrath, raised the absence of pre-legislative scrutiny. The justification was made on the basis that we did not have the time for it. Did the Minister consider carrying out an impact analysis or any assessment on the possible impact the restrictions and draconian measures would have on people's lives and access to other health services such as cancer screening?

I have said all along that I am very concerned about these measures. I feel that the cure is worse than the disease in most cases. I am aware of cancer patients who were delayed in being transferred to hospital. I am aware of issues with screening which have impacted on people and caused them extra distress. I am also aware of issues regarding people who cannot take the vaccine because they have a number of allergies to medication. I have made personal representations to medical professionals about these issues. I am aware of one constituent who cannot get any sort of answer and who was left in limbo. She cannot receive anything from a medical professional to advise her what she should do due to her allergies to many medications. Something needs to be issued quickly to those people.

I am concerned. The fact is we have 900,000 people on our hospital waiting lists, and we have had an increase of 124,000 since August 2019. We cannot just forget about those people because of the current crisis.

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