Results 3,421-3,440 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Where are the other nine?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: If they were needed in two days, could they be opened? They are available, are they?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: My question was more specific. If the additional beds were needed in two or three days, they could be utilised. They are there; they are constructed.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: How many more of those beds are there today than in March? I am not referring to the surge beds but to those referred to by Dr. Henry, which have been built up over time? I refer to critical care beds.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: So Mr. Reid is saying there is a difference of 55. Is it correct that there were 225 by comparison with 280 now?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Is the HSE looking at the value of serial testing given the positivity rates, which are low, and the capacity it is eating up? Does Mr. Reid think serial testing represents a good use of resources given where we are at right now?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: There is value in it for nursing homes, given the impact that people having the virus has. The next speaker is from Sinn Féin.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Sorry, Mr. Reid. Your microphone-----

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: The Deputy has two minutes.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Yes, that is fine. The next speaker is from Fine Gael. I call Deputy O'Dowd.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: I thank Deputy O'Dowd and call Deputy McAuliffe.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: I thank Deputy O'Reilly. We will move on now to the next speaker.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: The next speaker is Deputy Murnane O'Connor, followed by Deputy Durkan.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Thank you, Deputy. I must bring in two more speakers, including one of your party colleagues who is anxious to speak. I first call Deputy Durkan.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: I have a couple of questions. Further to my previous question to Dr. Cuddihy about what is classified as a Covid death, if somebody is admitted to a hospital with a broken leg, for example, requires hospitalisation and is asymptomatic but tests positive for Covid-19, is that person included among the statistics for those in hospital with Covid?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Even though the reason the person was admitted may not have been Covid - he or she may have been admitted with a broken leg, a heart attack or something else unrelated to Covid - he or she is classified as being in hospital with Covid and included in the statistics for those who are hospitalised with Covid.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: They are the statistics that are relayed at the daily press conferences.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: On 27 February, Dr. Margaret Harris of the WHO was on RTÉ Television and said spare testing capacity in terms of staff and resources would be key. That was seven months ago. I have a lot of sympathy for the HSE because it has to work with the resources available to it. It is a bit like the loaves and fishes but perhaps without the divine capabilities that were demonstrated. Does Mr....

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: I understand that the patient would have to be isolated from the main body of patients.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: May I give Mr. Reid one example? I am aware of it because it is very close to me. The previous Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, accepted that the overcrowding levels at University Hospital Limerick would be unsustainable and that greater use would have to be made of the tier 2 hospitals - Nenagh General Hospital, St. John's Hospital in Limerick and Ennis General Hospital - to avoid...