Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to state how concerned I am about the Covid numbers, hospital capacity in the North and the ability of its health system to cope. This is not new. Covid numbers, in the main, are higher in the North and have been more worrying during the past six months. During the second wave the virus was running at four times that in the South. Two weeks ago, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, there were 100 deaths in a week. The North's population is two fifths that of the South. I will let the Members do the maths in working out just how tragic that is.

Five people died on Monday, may they rest in peace, and 419 tested positive; six died yesterday and 486 tested positive; and 13 died over the weekend. If this was a community Members represented, imagine how they would feel, but this is our community. These are really scary numbers for families and for burnt-out healthcare workers and their families facing into Christmas. It should be a concern for every politician North and South. The heads of the Northern Ireland hospital trust on Monday warned that hospitals would be overwhelmed in January with a spike and unbearable pressure - those are not my words - but that is already happening. Hospitals that have been at over-capacity or near capacity for weeks are treating patients in car parks. Seventeen ambulances were outside emergency rooms yesterday and that was the same for all the emergency departments in the North. The situation is better this morning but that does not mean it will not get worse. That includes Altnagelvin Hospital that serves Donegal. This situation has the potential to be catastrophic. The health minister, Robin Swann, who, by all reports, was reluctant to lift the restrictions after the two-week circuit breaker, is to consider the restrictions on Thursday. I ask the Minister for Health to update the House on how this impacts the Border and how we can help the hospitals in the North.