Results 8,101-8,120 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Ms Buckley for the response. The follow-up question is whether any resident who wants a mask can have one.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I appreciate that but the residents in direct provision are in a unique position as they are in close proximity with other people not in their household in indoor settings. They have no choice about that. If it is not the case, the Department might look at this but I hope any resident who wants a mask would have access to one. My understanding of the current public health advice is that...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Do they have access to laptops?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Congregated Settings: Direct Provision Centres (26 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Acting Chair for her indulgence. I happen to be homeschooling three children who are all at different levels in primary school. Between Aladdin, Seesaw, ClassDojo, Google Drive and email, it would be very difficult to do it without access to a PC or a laptop. Mr. Wilson might make sure that children who are in school are facilitated in terms of online learning because many...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (27 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will share time and will take the first five minutes. Yesterday, hundreds of pages of correspondence between Nursing Homes Ireland and the State were released. They paint a very dark picture of staff having to use painter's overalls and goggles from local schools to protect themselves; of four-week delays in testing; and of no voice on NPHET or even on the subgroup looking at nursing...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Correspondence (27 May 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: 524. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide the correspondence between the Chairperson of the HSE, the CEO of the HSE, the Secretary General of his Department and him pertaining to Covid-19 testing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7176/20]

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank all of the witnesses for coming to the committee. I thank their respective members for the Trojan work they have done over the past months. It has been quite extraordinary to see the level of skill and dedication as an entire clinical system geared up for a disease we had no idea how to treat when we did not know what it would do to our population. It has been an incredible show of...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Is it Mr. Varley's understanding, and I put this question also to the clinicians here today, that some of this delayed care as a result of lower capacity is cancer patients and urgent care including diagnostics, outpatient clinics or surgery?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Mr. Varley. Do any of the representatives from the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, want to respond on the care that is being missed at the moment?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will come to that and I agree. When I advocate for the ending of this contract, it is not to go back to the status quowhere public patients cannot access it. I am just trying to get a sense for the total quantum of care that we can now deliver to people in this country. I do not really care if they are public or private; they are people who need care. If there are 10,000 fewer of them...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: We understand but essentially they were private patients. Their insurance companies were going to pay for their care and treatment and we stepped in and said we would pay for it instead, if they can get it. My final question is probably more for the IMO but also for the IHCA. It is about solutions. We now have a perfect storm. We have lost 20% of beds in our public hospitals by going...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (Resumed) (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I would like to thank our witnesses. I will start with two questions. It was exactly the right decision at the start, but the secondary rationale, which was around maintaining capacity, has not worked at all. It should have been ended as soon as that became clear. At the moment, we are essentially using public money to treat private patients in private hospitals by private consultants. My...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (Resumed) (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That really does not answer the question. I do not think there are not too many private patients in the country looking to waive their private patient status so they can become public patients and not get any treatment. The question I ask is why not let the private patients continue to be paid for by the insurance companies, which is what would have happened, leaving all of the money to be...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (Resumed) (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand that. The question I am asking is "why?". Mr. Breslin is restating what happened, which is everyone was to be treated as a public patient. For people who get Covid, that decision makes perfect sense. For all of the ongoing treatment, if insurance firms are willing to pay for private patients and maybe they do not get priority during the crisis, I am all for that. Why use...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (Resumed) (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That might have been the concern people had but that is exactly what has happened. That is the entire point of my question. That became exactly what happened. Public money is being used. However, we are running out of time. Can I get an answer to my second question? Did the Department engage with the hospitals to look at ending this contract earlier than June given the vast human cost...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Use of Private Hospitals (Resumed) (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: To be clear, nobody asked the private hospitals if they would be willing to continue until the end of June?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Travel Restrictions (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: As I have thanked Mr. Breslin and his team many times, I take the opportunity to thank Mr. Burgess and the staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I also thank Ms Graham and the staff of the NTA. I know their people have been working around the clock and have put in extraordinary work and I want to recognise that work. This question is for Mr. Burgess. I will start with...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Travel Restrictions (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Could we not charter flights to get them out?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Travel Restrictions (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: In the interests of time, there is one more question I want to ask so I will stop Mr. Burgess there if I may. This really is a question for whoever the responsible body is. I have had a lot of people contacting me asking what the situation is on incoming travel. We understand that there are no restrictions on people going between the North and the South, but if people are flying in from...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Travel Restrictions (2 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: When should this measure be relaxed?