Results 10,721-10,740 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Quite rightly, there is a lot of commentary around testing and tracing at present. First, I make the point that we currently have one of the highest levels of testing anywhere in the world. I recently looked at international comparative data in respect of tests per 100,000 people, and I estimate that we currently rank at 12th out of 110 countries, some of which are very...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The lab capacity we have is slightly over 100,000. At the start of this, as we all know, a lot of that capacity was off the island. We simply did not have the lab capacity here. That capacity is now on the island. We have an existing contract with a German lab for a few thousand which we can use, but it is important to say that the testing capacity is on the island. It is for 100,000...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The additional swabbers are for the 100,000 capacity but will also look at turnaround times. If we do move above 100,000, we will look to increase that workforce as well.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Dr. De Gascun might be the right person to discuss testing in South Korea. I will add one thing to Deputy Durkan's question on the message. The clearest and simplest message I have heard so far was from Dr. Glynn and Professor Nolan a few weeks ago and was that we suppress this virus by limiting our contacts. They told people to think a week or two ahead and to think about the people they...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: May I add to it? We need to identify barriers to testing. We do not want to be asking people from remote areas or those with no access to cars to get on a bus if they suspect they have Covid. Not only will we consider the Deputy's constituency in this regard, we will also work with the HSE to ensure a similar approach in other identified areas where, for whatever reason, people find it...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. The initial plan was to bring in randomised or voluntary testing at airports. There are mixed views, and I will defer to the experts that are here as to the efficacy of mass airport testing. The Deputy is completely correct in that some countries are doing it. Others are not. NPHET's view at present is that it would not be the highest priority in terms of the...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The current proposal is for regions. I believe the Commission calls it level 2. There are three regions in Ireland, which will make it much more difficult to implement. Not only would we need to know if a person is travelling to France, but we would need to know to which of the EU areas he or she is going. Airport testing will need to be looked at within that context. If I may, I will...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will provide the committee with a detailed report, including commencement dates and volumes, for each of the three services under the national screening programme, if that will help. There has been substantial progress in the past number of weeks but not only do we need to get the full volume going again, we are also dealing with a significant number of people who have had to wait and who...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for her remarks about public health; I could not agree more. Backwards testing is looking back to try and identify areas of possible transmission. There are other witnesses here today who obviously understand it better than I do but it is worth referencing that a certain amount of that work has already been happening with public health doctors.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Can I just state, in terms of the 100,000 tests, the recommendation from NPHET at the time-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy raised the point about testing and I want to clarify, if I may. The recommendation from NPHET at the time was not that we move to 100,000 tests per week and stay there. It was that we make 100,000 tests available so we could go there.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The terms of contracts are an operational matter for the HSE. Clearly, if we are hiring several thousand people for a service that we hope will no longer be needed as soon as possible, because we would all love to see a vaccine as quickly as possible, it would not be appropriate that these are full-time, permanent contracts but I will defer to the HSE. I can get the Deputy a note on exactly...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Sure.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: In the first instance, the Government will allocate a certain amount of funding. A total of €1.997 billion was agreed by the Oireachtas earlier this year. There will be supplementary amounts assigned for testing and tracing later on and, to the Deputy's point, a considerable amount will have to be deployed for next year. There are various controls in place. In the first instance,...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, that is no problem at all.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Barry. I share his concerns on the prioritisation of mental health. There is resourcing within the winter plan for mental health and there is a need for us to think more broadly, which is one of the points the Deputy made. We need to fully and further support our existing mental health services, but we are dealing with an unprecedented challenge in terms of mental health for...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will start and will then ask Dr. Glynn to come in on the rationale for counties and not smaller areas. It is a very fair question. In my own county, for example, there is a very similar situation. We have a very high prevalence in the north of the county and a very low prevalence in the south and west of the county. People are understandably asking if we can do it by town, village or...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I will respond to the Deputy's questions about private and elective hospitals and will ask Dr. Glynn and the other witnesses to come in on what is happening in Vienna. The short answer on private hospitals is "Yes". All of the private hospitals are currently being engaged with by the HSE as part of the winter plan. Funding has been provided for that. The arrangement that was put in place...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: That is happening everywhere. All of the private hospitals are being engaged with. The Deputy is correct about the elective hospital for Cork. I have not received a recommendation and nobody has sought sanction from me yet in that regard. I want to see an acceleration of permanent beds in the public system and building elective hospitals is a key component of that. I will be working...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I will get him a detailed briefing on that. I will add that while the elective hospital is needed and the winter plan includes, for example, funding for approximately 900 additional acute beds, a critical additional part is the investment in community care. We need investment in hospitals but, as per the Sáintecare strategy, we are also investing heavily in...