Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The real Seanad. I am absolutely thrilled to be here and thank the Cathaoirleach for inviting me today. For colleagues in the Seanad, I apologise ahead of time for having to leave at some point to go over to the convention centre. Obviously there are various things going on there but I wanted to make sure that I came in here, gave the initial opening and stayed as long as I could but at some point I must go, which I am sure colleagues understand.

As Senators will be aware, last month the Government took the very difficult decision of moving the country to level 5 of the strategy for dealing with the virus - Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021. The decision to move to level 5 was driven by a concern that the spread of the virus in Ireland would, if unchecked, grow beyond the ability of the public health system to manage, which would inevitably lead to very serious and very negative consequences for hospitals and the many individuals at risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19.

It is understandable that some people are tired - I am sure everybody is tired - and frustrated by the restrictions, which we have all been living with now since March of this year to a greater or lesser extent. Obviously, as we are all aware, we are in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. I think we all hope that it is a once-in-a-century pandemic. The World Health Organization reports that confirmed cases of Covid-19 have now passed 50 million cases worldwide with 1.25 million deaths. By any measure, that is a very significant and tragic global event.

Many of our European neighbours are suffering really quite brutal resurgences of the virus right now. France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, to name but a few, are experiencing real difficulties, including with hospital capacity. Germany's response to the pandemic has been widely praised, and quite rightly widely praised, but even Germany now has more severe Covid-19 patients than at any point since the pandemic began. It had nearly 3,000 people being treated for the virus in intensive care facilities in the last two days, which exceeds its previous peak in April.

In Ireland, we have now detected over 65,000 cases of Covid-19. We have, tragically, seen over 1,900 of our fellow citizens die from the disease. Many others have suffered extremely debilitating bouts of the illness requiring hospitalisation and, for some, assistance with breathing via ventilation. I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the families, friends, loved ones and colleagues of all those who have died in Ireland so far this year from Covid-19. I know my colleagues in the Seanad will join me in wishing them the best and extending our sympathies to them.

It is important to remember that while there have, undoubtedly, been some positive developments regarding improved outcomes for Covid-19 patients in intensive care, and some drugs have been shown to be somewhat effective in certain circumstances, we do not have a cure for Covid-19 at this point. There is a major global effort to develop a vaccine for the virus, as we all know. Ireland is part of the process that will be procuring supplies for the EU. The EU Commission is continuing negotiations with major pharmaceutical companies that are working to develop a vaccine. There are advanced trials ongoing at present for several of these vaccines. Pending that development, we are continuing to work actively to suppress the virus to the greatest extent possible.

At this moment in time, that leaves us with what are termed "non-pharmaceutical interventions". We are talking about social distancing, cough and sneezing etiquette, wearing face coverings, avoiding crowded situations, and not attending or, indeed, not leaving the home when symptoms appear. Covid-19, as we know, spreads when individuals and groups come into close contact with one another enabling the virus to move from one person to another. So for now, the public health advice is essentially for each of us to act and behave as if we are a close contact to protect those around us from infection.For now, we must all act like a close contact to protect those around us from infection.

The HSE has worked intensively over the past number of months to put in place a comprehensive, reliable and responsive testing and tracing operation. We have on-island capacity to test up to 126,000 people per week, which can be increased to 140,000 per week using the surge capacity that is in place with a German lab which is partnering with the HSE. I want to recognise the work the HSE has done on this. Contact tracing has not been perfect the whole time, and we all know that. We would always love for testing and swabbing times to be quicker, but our testing rate and capacity is one of the highest in the world. The HSE initially met NPHET's requirement to get to 100,000 tests per week. I then met with the HSE and asked if it would look at going higher. My sense was that if there was a big surge in the disease, we would want to go higher. It has now increased capacity from 100,000, which was already very favourable by international standards, to 140,000. It has in place sufficient contact tracing to contact trace 1,500 new cases a day, and that capacity is increasing every week. On the basis that we are now looking at lower levels, namely, several hundred cases per day, thanks to the efforts of everyone in the country around levels 3, 4 and 5, I am now engaging with the HSE on moving from volume to breadth and depth in respect of contact tracing. This will enable us to get in as quickly as possible and do what is referred to as forward contract tracing, which seeks to determine who any of us might have given the virus to; and backward contact tracing, which essentially entails going back to find the sources of the infection. That is going to be one of the big focuses going forward.

The Covid plan sets out our approach to managing and living with Covid in a range of areas. The plan sets out five levels of response, each with a number of measures designed to help us all lower the overall Covid transmission. The aim is to allow society, individuals, communities and businesses to be able to operate as normally as possible, while suppressing the virus by targeting it according to the ways the public health teams and the scientists tell us it spreads.

At level 5, which obviously we are at now, there is a range of measures designed to minimise interactions between individuals in many situations to limit the transmission of the virus. Among the most significant is the decision to close non-essential retail outlets, and workers are asked to work from home where they can. Restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs are restricted to take away or delivery service only. Most difficult of all for many is that people are asked to stay at home, save for the exceptions provided for in the regulations, and to exercise within 5 km of their homes.

While there are many things we cannot do at the moment, many essential retail outlets and other businesses are open, for example, manufacturing and construction. There is also an opportunity to use support bubbles. In trying to learn as we go with Covid, I, as Minister for Health, was very conscious that people living on their own were suffering hugely in terms of isolation. We have put in place the support bubbles, which allow people living on their own or a single parent with kids to essentially link in with one other household, and that then becomes the extended household, which is really important.

Covid only emerged in the human population late last year. In that time, we have developed the testing protocols, developed a greater - though it is fair to say not a complete - understanding of its transmission profile, gained insight into the particular populations that it poses the greatest risk to, and embarked on an enormous worldwide effort to generate vaccines and drug therapies to counter the virus.

The majority of people have acknowledged the need to adapt to these new behaviours. We all slip up from time to time, but it is very reasonable to conclude that people have been resilient, and have demonstrated really quite remarkable fortitude and solidarity in the face of what has been a very tough year, and that is what we are seeing right now. Through levels 3, 4 and 5, we are seeing the virus being pushed back in every single county in this country. That is a manifestation of a nation stepping up, working together, following the public health advice and essentially working to keep each other safe.I think people deserve great credit for that. There is no health service in the world that has infinite capacity to meet the demand of uncontrolled spread of Covid. We witnessed the scenes earlier in the year of very advanced healthcare systems in Italy, Spain and New York in which hospital networks came under very severe pressure. Unfortunately, several European countries are again experiencing very concerning growth in the number of people being admitted to hospital and critical care in recent weeks. There are alarming reports from across Europe describing how many countries are running out of intensive care beds, as well as doctors and nurses to treat patients. Those are exactly the kinds of situations we moved to avoid when we decided to move to level 5 some weeks ago.

It is worth reminding ourselves that our efforts have been successful. It provides us with reassurance that we can reduce the number of cases - at great cost, it must be said - and limit the impact of the virus. We reduced the numbers earlier this year and flattened the curve. The people of the midlands reduced the numbers there during the local lockdown and the country as a whole is reducing the numbers and flattening the curve again. The 14-day incidence has fallen from more than 300 per 100,000 in the two weeks to October 25 to slightly more than 150 per 100,000 today. The most recent data show that case numbers are continuing to fall and that our seven-day incidence is now 63 per 100,000, which is again reassuring and good to see. In Leitrim and Wexford the seven-day incidence rate is now less than 30 per 100,000. The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in hospital is 291 and trending downwards.

That is not to say that the job is complete. It absolutely is not. We must keep going for the next three weeks. However, the reduction in numbers demonstrates what can be achieved when a nation works together. Ultimately, our success over the next few weeks will be determined by the extent to which each of us adheres to the letter and spirit of the measures outlined in level 5. We are asking again that individuals examine their daily contacts and make a decision to limit those contacts in line with level 5 guidance. I wish to take this opportunity to commend the efforts of everyone doing their bit in an effort to tackle the virus.

I thank the House for inviting me here today to outline our rationale for introducing the level 5 measures. To finish on a note of thanks politically across the board, I spoke some time ago to Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization, WHO. He stated that Ireland stood out as a country where there was political solidarity in dealing with Covid-19. That is not to say there is not debate and challenge as there must be, and robust challenge absolutely is required, but I wish to acknowledge that there has been a wide range of support across the political spectrum. That has not just been support for Government policy. Individual Deputies, Senators and councillors are leading by example in their own communities and constituencies. They are doing a great job. I extend a personal thanks to the Members of the Seanad for everything each of them is doing in leading in their own communities and areas as we suppress this virus.