Results 13,081-13,100 of 46,456 for speaker:Simon Harris

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I assure Deputy Smith that I am never glib when it comes to this pandemic. I was making a particular point because there has been a great deal of commentary - sometimes it is made in this House and sometimes it is made elsewhere - on whether the nursing home sector was left behind. I hear it and I want to respond to it because that is what we can do in here. I am not sure whether the...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I agree that we need to avoid a bad flu season at the same time as Covid. The Deputy will have seen my comments that I am engaging with Departments for a much more expansive immunisation programme around flu, removing barriers and so on. It has also been though the HSE board. I will return to her with an update shortly. I met Mental Health Reform today at the Deputy's request and...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: The objective, which I believe outlined in my opening statement, is 100,000 tests a week for at least six months, and that is also the aim of the Chief Medical Officer.

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: There are many questions. I have two minutes and seven seconds in which to respond so I will do my best. On Dealgan nursing home, I will certainly keep all the Deputies from the constituency of Louth informed. We will work through it on a cross-party basis. Yes, I want full transparency. I have no difficulty with the letters being published. To be very clear, however, I must...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his contributions. I am always in awe of the Green Party knowledge of all things to do with the app. Every week it is very impressive. I hope that it augurs well if the party comes into government in respect of the progressing of these matters. This app will be a big help. To make a point the Chief Medical Officer would make if he were here, this app will be...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I am scheduled to meet with the Irish Dental Association tomorrow afternoon. As Deputy Feighan has said, guidance has been provided. Obviously we must follow public health advice but we want to have a conversation with the association, as we do with other sectors, with regard to how dentists operate in the new normal, at the appropriate time. I will not pre-empt that meeting but my...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: Maybe some people do not want the answers. I can speak fast but not that fast. In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, I extend my sincere sympathy to the families, friends and staff in Dealgan nursing home, which he referenced. I will have to liaise with the HSE on the specific question on the RCSI's involvement. I know it has been playing a proactive role. The Deputy wants an...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Reilly for her questions. On the section 39 agencies, I will examine the issue and revert to the Deputy on it. On the point regarding the geriatricians, I have written to the Deputy on it. The short answer is that we are examining how we can do something not too dissimilar to what the Deputy suggests. On nursing homes, I have discussed with the Chief Medical Officer...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: It may be a different issue but I want to thank them. As I have already acknowledged, there is a lot happening around the country that I do not like when it comes to not extending a céad míle fáilte to people from other jurisdictions. I want to thank them in that regard. Deputy O'Reilly asked for specific figures. To ensure accuracy, I prefer when figures are given out by...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I will do so. The Deputy has hit the nail on the head, as did Deputy Butler, that if we can get to a point where nursing homes are in a position to use their own staff, as I know the staff are willing to do, it will further remove the potential delays. The national ambulance service has been incredible and its staff have done an amazing job, but if we can take out that piece and do the...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Donnelly, Butler and Cahill. To conclude the conversation with Deputy Donnelly in regard to cancer care and, in fairness, I know he said this also, it need not go the way that it potentially will go in other countries because of the efforts the people here have made and the leadership that our healthcare professionals have shown. We now have an opportunity to really ramp up...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a massively important issue. He is right that it is entirely possible that this country, and indeed many others, will come through the Covid pandemic, albeit with undoubted tragedy, pain and hurt, only for more people to pass away or get very sick from other illnesses through secondary morbidity and secondary mortality. We need to work collectively...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Simon Harris: I welcome this opportunity to update this House once again on the Covid-19 disease and our response to it. I wish to start by expressing my condolences to the family and friends of those that have been lost to this disease since I was last in this House. It is an individual loss but there is also a sense of national loss. We share in your loss. Today, I will update the House in two...

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

Simon Harris: I will email an 11-page briefing note on the mobile app to the Deputy this evening and make it available to other Members on the appropriate forum. The Deputy made an interesting point regarding the representation of psychiatry on NPHET. I will discuss the matter with its chair. The Deputy is correct that there is a significant mental health challenge. I am due to engage with several...

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

Simon Harris: That is fine. The assertion made by the Deputy this week-----

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

Simon Harris: I will reply to the Deputy. She claimed that nursing homes were not mentioned in a briefing note. I can send her any number of briefing notes relating to the work we are doing on nursing homes. The figure I have is that 28,000 swabs had been completed in long-term residential care settings as of 27 April.I apologise if I misspoke when quoting the figure initially. I expect that number to...

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

Simon Harris: I appreciate that Deputy Healy-Rae outlined his concern being primarily for the people in the facility because in respect of everybody in our country, regardless of how they got to our country, whether they are a citizen or not a citizen, whether they are seeking asylum, we have a duty of care to everybody during this global pandemic and treating everybody equally in that regard. That is why...

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

Simon Harris: I was going to-----

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

Simon Harris: I very kindly sat down while I was in the middle of answering a question.

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

Simon Harris: I will. The Deputy raised a matter but I am very conscious that on the floor of Dáil Éireann, our national Parliament, I am trying to balance the answering of questions with the protection of rights of individuals and requirements under law to protect the identity and medical confidentiality of residents. I know the Department of Justice and Equality and the HSE issued a joint...