Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to many of the comments, particularly from Senator Hoey, in terms of front-line workers and, as the Minister of State stated, to remember that more than 71,000 people in the State have tested positive and to remember the 2,000 people who have died.

I welcome the progress on developing a vaccine. We have now several viable contenders which hope to be able to distribute a vaccine in the first quarter of next year. Vaccine availability, while a few months off, will come quickly and we need to be as ready as possible to hit the ground running in that regard.

I wanted to include in my contribution a particular ask of the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. I know he has done good work in terms of keeping addiction and outreach services open. The Minister of State at the Department of Health has always had a particular interest in sexual health and from mental health to sexual health, to give it some hearing in these Houses, I would like him, having written to the HSE a couple of weeks ago, to ensure that the HSE reopens the gay men's health service in the Meath hospital as a matter of urgency. I am hugely concerned about its continued closure. It is the only statutory public health service for gay and bisexual men who have sex with men and the trans community. Since its establishment 28 years ago, it has provided a range of services that now include a full sexual health service, a pre-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP, service, a hepatitis A and B and HPV vaccine programme, and counselling as well. We all know that STI tests and HIV tests cost a considerable amount of money privately. The staff in the gay men's health service, GMHS, are world class, and I have first-hand experience of that.

The service was closed in March to enable the redeployment of staff to Covid-19 test centres. Most other public sexual health services, as I understand it, are also closed as staff have been redeployed to the Covid-19 response, but some of them have since reopened with reduced capacity. The services at GMHS were availed of by 12,000 last year. It is extremely important work. The fight against HIV in Ireland depends on it. Various language services in the health sector were mentioned by Senator Byrne. I am especially concerned about vulnerable groups in the community - young men, sex workers, migrants - as members of these groups generally face more difficulties in accessing services and treatment. I would ask the Minister of State to talk to the HSE to ensure that the GMHS is reopened as a matter of urgency.