Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have always tried to be non-partisan when it comes to politics so I take the opportunity to congratulate the Leader of the Seanad on her sterling performance, particularly last weekend on Newstalk. Her calm confident way of dealing with the emergence from Covid-19, and particularly antigen testing, is a credit to her and all of us in the Seanad, and I thank her for presenting such a positive note.

Speaking of Covid-19 and hospitals, I will speak about something that may annoy some people, namely, the wearing of hospital uniforms in supermarkets and while walking around the streets. It has long been a bone of contention of mine that people who work in what should be fairly sterile areas appear in supermarkets wearing scrubs on their way home from work. I have read a number of studies on this. What has caused me to look at it is that last weekend, when I was in Dunnes Stores, a woman appeared in hospital scrubs and an elderly lady turned to me and said that we were in the middle of a pandemic, for God's sake, and asked what was going on. This is a discussion we need to have and it needs to be about not just the ordinary workers in hospitals but hospital consultants. The ties worn by hospital consultants apparently carry more bacteria than is good for any of us. Can we not get back to the days when people wore clean uniforms, which should probably be supplied by the hospital in the morning when staff arrive in work, and when doctors wore some form of white coat if they were not wearing scrubs? Patient protection has to be the key for all of us. I know it is a sensitive subject to bring up at this time but it is probably the right time to have this discussion now that we are emerging from a pandemic.

I want to discuss the exit survey carried out by the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO. It is heartbreaking to read about senior and military officers who have retired early and who all loved the job they were doing but simply could not continue for family or income reasons. They are being driven out the door. This issue has to be addressed. We cannot wait for the commission on the future of defence to report. We will have nobody left if we do not deal with the issue at this stage. I know the Leader has tried a number of times to have a debate on defence and I ask her to expedite this so we can have the debate before the summer break, if the Minister will come to the House to discuss these issues. I thank the Leader for her time.