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

I thank the Deputies for the range of questions. Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised pertinent issues about getting access to dentists, GPs and acute hospital services, as well as getting access to GPs more generally in respect of non-Covid illnesses. Obviously, Covid has had an impact on our health services, as did the cyberattack last year. In respect of dentists, I have made the point that contractual discussions are ongoing with the Irish Dental Association regarding fees and so forth, and additional funding has been provided in that regard.

I again pay tribute to the work of GPs during the pandemic on a range of fronts. Our health service stood the test throughout the pandemic despite what has been said, relatively speaking and compared with other countries in terms of mortality figures and the degree to which our ICUs held up notwithstanding significant pressures. We need to thank those involved. GPs in particular, through the booster campaign before Christmas and working with pharmacies, led a very important campaign to reduce the impact of Omicron, particularly in terms of hospital and ICU admissions, deaths and severe illness. People can take things like that for granted in the aftermath, but it was a very effective and well-run booster campaign that had a huge impact.

I get the point that we need now to open access because one of our big concerns relates to delayed diagnosis across a range of illnesses. That is a huge concern and we have to be alert. There will have to be intensive resourcing in the next 12 months to deal with this undoubted legacy from Covid, be it in cancer care, heart disease or a range of other areas where normal diagnostics or regular screening did not take place. I have some concerns about that and we will need to keep a close focus on it.

To respond to Deputy Kelly, we need to have a look at what is happening in the mid-west, where there has been an historical underprovision of beds. I support the idea of an elective facility but, under Sláintecare, that proposal has not emerged in respect of the mid-west. What has come back to us relates to elective facilities for Galway, Cork and Dublin, but I am open to the idea of an elective facility for the mid-west. I think an elective-only facility is the way to go and the health service needs to move more quickly than it normally does. It does not have to be a long-term provision but should rather be a short to medium-term one. Ideally, it should be on health ground lands to fast-track it.

Turning to Deputy McDonald, we need an evaluation and it is important that it be comprehensive in respect of everything that took place, with a view to learning lessons. In my view, it has to be about learning lessons. We do not want future public health officials or public servants to be hamstrung or looking over their shoulders if there is a new crisis, conscious that another inquiry may be conducted into what they are doing in the middle of that crisis. In the middle of a crisis, we need speed, we need people to make decisions and we need people to have courage to make decisions, and not to cover their back all the time or do box-ticking exercises. All international responses to crises have this as a basic standard, whereby we look back to evaluate, learn and ensure those lessons are applied to future pandemics and crises. That should be the spirit of the approach and the Government will have to work on what the best model will be. Prior to Christmas and throughout the Christmas period, we were very focused on vaccination. Once that evaluation and inquiry is in train, it takes all the senior front-line people out of working on the pandemic, and all hands were on deck for Omicron during that period. We will come back to the House with proposals. The public health reform expert advisory group is there to focus and identify learnings from the public health components of the response to Covid-19. It is important that we have a strong and robust embedded public health system into the future.

Deputies Boyd Barrett and Barry asked questions in respect of workers. Throughout the pandemic, we have been very strong in supporting workers, be that through the pandemic unemployment payment, the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, or the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS. We have provided a range of measures to support the economy and underpin employment. The best outcomes for workers relate to access to a job and the ability to get back to normal as quickly as we can. As was commented on earlier in the House, there is also the recognition payment, primarily for front-line healthcare workers.

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