Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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865. To ask the Minister for Health if pulmonary rehabilitation will be widely and readily available for patients whose pulmonary health is affected by Covid-19; if there are the facilities, technology and personnel available to make this therapy and resource widely available to patients both in hospitals and the community setting in view of the high rate of respiratory disease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14509/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the issue raised is a service delivery matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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866. To ask the Minister for Health if he has considered issuing guidelines to nursing homes to ease visitor restrictions when there are no active cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14511/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In line with the Government's Roadmap for the re-opening of Society and Business, the National Public Health Emergency Team has agreed that a phased approach to the recommencement of visiting to long term residential centres would be appropriate at this time. The advice is that a co-ordinated and standard national approach to the recommencement of visiting is taken.

In light of the above , and on the basis that the COVID-19 disease status in the country remains in its current stable condition , the NPHET recommended that from 15th of June, the phased resumption of indoor visiting of residents in residential care facilities may commence in accordance with guidance issued by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The guidance which is published and available on the HSPC's website advises that indoor visiting in residential care facilities where there is no ongoing COVID-19 outbreak will be permissible from 15th of June in circumstances where certain criteria are followed. During an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 within a residential care facility, the guidance advises that all but essential visiting is suspended in the interests of protecting residents, visitors and staff.

I am aware of how difficult the restrictions on visiting have been for both nursing home residents and their families. Therefore this phased approach is much welcomed as it will both facilitate visits to loved ones across the country , whilst also keeping some of our most vulnerable members of society protected during this challenging time.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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867. To ask the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in respect of the promised roadmap for the reopening of non-Covid-19 health services in view of growing waiting lists for services; the number of occasions on which the board of the HSE considered this plan; and when he expects to publish it. [14512/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented interruption to normal health services both in the community and acute hospitals. While many vital services were maintained or restructured to respond more appropriately to Covid-19 related risks and evolving needs, other services were suspended or delivered on a reduced basis.

To ensure services are re-introduced in a safe, clinically aligned and prioritised way, the HSE have published a Strategic Framework for ‘Service Continuity in a Covid Environment’. This document was published on June 8th and can be found at the following link .

The implementation of the Framework will ensure service resumption is done in an integrated and phased manner. It will consolidate new ways of working and build on international knowledge.

While not all services can return to previous levels immediately, many health services have already resumed, particularly for priority cases. The HSE are currently developing a Service Continuity Roadmap for the resumption of services across the health system.

I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy in relation to the further details sought on the Plan.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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868. To ask the Minister for Health when he expects to publish a green list of countries to and from which it is deemed safe to travel; the actions which will be taken in respect of countries deemed unsafe; and if these actions will require legislation. [14513/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Close consideration is being given by Government to policy in relation to overseas travel, including to additional measures being put in place at airports and ports to strengthen existing arrangements.

The Government continues to review the methodology and approach to be used in connection with the instituting of reciprocal unimpeded travel arrangements with countries of a broadly similar or better epidemiological profile than our own, and an announcement will be made in due course when this work is complete.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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869. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he will take to give effect to his agreement in Dáil Éireann on 30 June 2020 that all data held by his Department in respect of Covid-19 should be open source; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14514/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Since the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) met for the first time, a commitment was given to collect and publish as much relevant data as possible while ensuring individual patient confidentiality was maintained at all times. While the nature and scale of the Covid-19 pandemic has been unprecedented, the collection of timely and comprehensive data has underpinned the efforts of the public health response to COVID-19 and has been instrumental in developing the health service response to Covid-19 and to the advice provided by NPHET and the Department of Health to assist Government decision-making in the wider response to Covid-19 in Ireland.

Aggregated data are published on an ongoing basis on my Department’s website, on the Health Protection Surveillance Centre website and on the HSE website. The Central Statistics office (CSO) also makes available a range of data through regular publications on its COVID -19 Information hub, detailing the changing state of aspects of Ireland's economy and society since the COVID-19 outbreak. The CSO has also provided the infrastructure for researcher access to data to allow further analysis through the provision of researcher Microdata files.

Furthermore, comprehensive national statistics, information and data about COVID-19 in Ireland is published on a daily basis on the Covid-19 Data Hub and Dashboards which can be accessed at . Data is also published on the open data portal at . This provides data in a machine readable format, updated on a daily basis and follows the Government guidelines on making data more widely available in open free and reusable formats.

It should be noted that due to the nature of the disease transmission and the clustered effects of the disease, many of the cases occur in relatively small communities where identification of individual patients could be an issue if appropriate measures are not taken to protect individual identities and their locations. The data published to date has been aggregated with this consideration in mind while also ensuring that data is made available in a timely and comprehensive manner to inform the Department and wider Government response but also to ensure the public are kept informed to the greatest extent possible.

There is also ongoing collaboration between my Department, the HPSC, HSE, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the CSO, Ordnance Survey Ireland and many other institutions and agencies to improve the data collected and the availability of it on an ongoing basis. I would like to assure the Deputy of my Department's ongoing commitment to publish as much Covid-19 data on an ongoing basis as is practicable, relevant and appropriate.