Results 13,181-13,200 of 46,522 for speaker:Simon Harris

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Duncan Smith. I agree with his views about transparency and the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET. Minutes of meetings are kept and published. NPHET makes recommendations, but I remain the decision maker on Government policy and am accountable to this House, to be clear. I have not gone against any of the recommendations from NPHET, nor do I intend to, because I...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I would like to follow up the issue of any questions not being answered with the Deputy directly. I assure him that this is not the case. The Taoiseach and I met his party leader yesterday for two hours, as we generally do once a week. We also have the HSE briefing, two hours of questions and statements in this House, and a daily press conference with the Chief Medical Officer to update...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I am pleased we are in a position in the Dáil where Deputies can ask when we can recommence elective work because if one looks at the modelling, as of today, had we not lowered the reproductive rate for this virus from just over 2.0 to where it is now, we would have seen 2,200 people in our ICUs today and would be in a very dire situation. That is not to take away from the very...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: Staffing is a major issue. I know Deputy Heydon has raised this with me. There are four ways we are trying to assist nursing homes: through the direct redeployment of HSE staff; an agreement reached in recent days with home care providers to allow home care staff to be redeployed; to ensure a faster turnaround time for testing for staff and a priority for that so that the many staff who do...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I am conscious that people at home watch these proceedings and hear the questions that are put but do not have access to written replies I send to Deputies. We must divide the allocated time better. I came here to answer questions. If I do not know the answer to a question, I will revert to the Deputy in writing, but I need some time to answer the questions orally.

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I ask that the allocated time be divided properly. Deputy Ward raised the issue of Jigsaw. I am due to meet its representatives on Thursday and I will revert to the Deputy thereafter. Mental health, particularly youth mental health, is a key priority. We wish to support Jigsaw in what it is doing. Deputy Paul Donnelly is correct in the context of ASD. The reality is that many children...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I have approximately three minutes. The Deputy raised a number of matters and I will write to her about some of them in the interests of time, as she has asked me to. The number of staff redeployed to nursing homes moves up and down and I saw a number of over 200. The number was 61 last week but I will send the Deputy the figures broken down by community healthcare organisation. I do not...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I will send a written note on the last one. I imagine it might come up in conversations here anyway.

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: On the issue of home care workers' PPE and nursing home workers' PPE, over the past seven days, from 23 April to 29 April, 6.63 million items of PPE have been delivered across the health service. Some 54% of this volume was delivered to community residential facilities in 1,767 individual deliveries. As for the full distribution, 54%, as I said, went there and 8% went to home care. I had a...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising these two important matters, which are both linked to the provision of non-Covid-19 healthcare. He has hit the nail on the head on a very important issue. In this country as in many others we have all been preparing for the pandemic to take a certain course of action: to come, to reach a very high peak with huge human consequences in terms of deaths and very...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (30 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I welcome this opportunity to update the House once again on the Covid-19 disease and our national response to it. I will begin by providing an update on our modelling work. I am pleased to say that the R number, which we have been talking about for several weeks, has remained stable at 0.5 to 0.8. That is quite an achievement by the people of this country. By now, Deputies know what...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: We have cancelled and closed many things including pubs, rugby matches and so on, on the basis of people doing what is good for them, their staff, the public -----

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: The law, I believe, says that they can open but the clear public health advice -----

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I know that. I am aware of that and if Deputy Byrne wants to ask me a question about that in a moment, I ask that he please do so. The clear advice from Dr. Tony Holohan, our Chief Medical Officer, is that hardware shops should only be open for emergencies. That will be reviewed as will all other things. We have operated a compliance structure based on buy-in and support from the...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I am happy if Members are.

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputies. There were quite a few questions there and as I have a limited amount of time, I will respond to each of the seven questions that have been tabled in writing. I want to reassure Deputy Connolly because at the heart of her questions is this idea of why long-term residential facilities were not the first priority, presumably because of the vulnerability of the residents...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Michael Collins for bringing the issue of PPE to my attention. If he wants to give me the details of the individuals or institutions involved, I will certainly liaise directly with the HSE on his behalf. In respect of the letter dated 4 April, I would hope that we have seen an improvement since then based on the decision taken by NPHET to have parity of access regarding PPE...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: Obviously, the current restrictions on work and the likes have an impact, but I am very eager for that second cath lab in Waterford to proceed.

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: I acknowledge that the Deputy has done a huge amount of campaigning and work in regard to cardiac services in the south-east. I also congratulate him on his election. On the second cath lab in Waterford, money is ring-fenced for it. I will get a status update for the Deputy. It is not for me to police what is essential or non-essential in regard to construction works, but there is an...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Simon Harris: The Deputy absolutely did no such thing. I just happened to catch her eye at the time but Deputies in this House did, in recent days, contact me through a variety of fora and suggest that we should rip up the agreement and give back the private hospitals, but I have no intention of doing that.