Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like previous speakers, I acknowledge the work and tireless efforts of all those who met and continue to meet the asks of the wider community throughout the pandemic. In March 2020, none of us here knew what lay ahead and nor did the public outside. I recall having a phone conversation with a HSE manager at the time and, to be frank, I was not the better of it when that conversation ended because of the sheer scale of what was being presented as a possibility. We have moved out of the emergency phase and lockdown and cocooning are hopefully consigned to the history books but there remains a fragility from those restrictions and there will be for some time to come because fear, anxiety and hesitancy remain. Accompanying that is a backlog of missed vital medical appointments, whether in the disability sector or physical or mental health sectors. Each and every one of those must be addressed. We also need a mechanism for dealing with long Covid. That impact must be forensically examined, as much every other sector and service.

We cannot ignore the response to Covid that happened in our nursing home sector, and we should not seek to do so. Events like that should never be seen again under any circumstances. There are scars, some of which are visible and some that are invisible. People said their first hellos and their last goodbyes through windows or on Zoom and they still need time and supports to heal. I still speak with mothers who are justifiably struggling to move on from giving birth under the most severe of maternity restrictions. They felt isolated and alone and they feel that to this day.

It will take some time to bounce back as a society. For some it will take longer and for others it will be less of an ask. While a new day may be dawning, we cannot walk away without taking steps to ensure that issues surrounding nursing homes, PPE, health, maternity services and the imbalance that existed in our society before Covid are examined in detail and that lessons are learned. None of us likes to think of it but we may be back in this situation again.

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