Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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798. To ask the Minister for Health the number of derogations from requirements to self-isolate for contacts of confirmed cases that have been granted or given within the HSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24022/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this operational matter.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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799. To ask the Minister for Health the direction given to staff in public hospitals in respect of face coverings and social distancing for staff and patients; and the system in place for ensuring compliance with the advice. [24027/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre has produced a range of guidance notes for COVID-19, including guidance for healthcare and non-healthcare settings. “Current recommendations for the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Possible or Confirmed COVID-19 in a pandemic setting” contains guidance for healthcare workers on face coverings and physical distancing.

The HSE is responsible for issuing the guidance to all healthcare settings.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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800. To ask the Minister for Health his plans in respect of putting the wearing of face coverings on a statutory basis for staff and customers in retail settings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24028/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The public health advice relating to Covid-19, including that relating to face coverings, is kept under continuing review by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

A person, without reasonable excuse, must now wear a face covering when using public transport, in retail outlets, shops and shopping centres, in other indoor spaces such as libraries, cinemas and cinema complexes, theatres, concert halls, bingo halls, museums, businesses carrying out cosmetic nail care or nail styling, hair care or hair styling, tattoo and piercing services, travel agents and tour operators, laundries and dry cleaners and licensed bookmakers.

The Regulations relevant to retail settings are the Health Act 1947 (Section 31A – Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (Face Coverings in certain premises and businesses) Regulations 2020 (S.I No. 296/2020)

These Regulations do not apply:

- to a person under 13 years,

- to the occupier, manager or person in charge or a worker where there is a screen that separates them from other persons or the person takes all reasonable steps to maintain a distance of two metres

- to a member of the Garda Síochána in the course of performing his or her duties

These Regulations provide that it is a matter for the occupier, manager or person in charge to take all reasonable steps to engage with persons entering or in a relevant premises to inform them of the requirements to wear a face covering and to promote compliance with the requirement. It is therefore a matter for the management of the retail operator concerned to decide what he/she may accept in terms of a reason for not wearing a face covering.

The Deputy may wish to note that the requirement to wear a face covering in the situations described is a penal provision for the purposes of section 31A of the Health Act 1947 (No. 28 of 1947). Enforcement is a matter for An Garda Síochána.

A reasonable excuse includes when a person cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness, impairment or disability or without severe distress; to communicate with a person who has difficulties communicating; to provide emergency help or care to a vulnerable person; to avoid harm or injury or to take medication. In addition, in retail outlets, it is also permitted to remove the face covering to allow for identification when the sales of goods or services have a minimum age requirement, or to assist in the provision of healthcare or healthcare advice.

The current face covering advice is available at

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Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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801. To ask the Minister for Health the details of the new agreement with the private hospital sector in respect of the provision of capacity and services to cater for pressures arising from Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24029/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A major part of the Government's Action Plan in response to Covid-19 was to substantially increase the capacity of public healthcare facilities to cope with the anticipated additional demand. In order to urgently ramp up capacity for acute care facilities, an arrangement was agreed with the private hospitals to use their facilities as part of the public system on a temporary basis, to provide essential services. A Heads of Terms of Agreement between the HSE and the Private Hospitals was agreed at the end of March 2020 and all 18 of the acute private hospitals signed up to it. Under the arrangement, all patients in the private hospitals were treated as public patients and their treatment was prioritised based on clinical need.

The agreement was reviewed at the end of May and the Government decided that the existing arrangement should not be extended beyond the end of June. It mandated the HSE to negotiate a new arrangement with private hospitals which would provide the HSE with full access to private hospital capacity in the event of a surge of Covid-19 and separately with ongoing agreed access, to enable the HSE to meet essential and elective care needs.

The HSE is currently working to secure access to private hospital facilities to support capacity requirements. A procurement process is currently in train to secure access to additional acute services and diagnostic capacity from private providers which is required to address capacity needs over the next two years.

The HSE is also undertaking bilateral discussions with individual private hospitals to seek to agree new arrangements which would provide the HSE with access to private hospital capacity in the event of a surge of Covid-19 cases.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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802. To ask the Minister for Health if arrangements will be made for Covid-19 case numbers by electoral division on a weekly basis; if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24030/20]

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 is 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 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 the disease in Ireland.

Comprehensive national statistics, information and data about Covid-19, including a timeline of confirmed cases by date, is published on a daily basis on the Department of Health website at and on the Covid-19 Data Hub and Dashboards available at . The published data are based on official figures provided by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

All datasets, charts and maps are updated on an on-going basis and in line with newly published data. Data in relation to COVID-19 confirmed cases at electoral division level are updated on a regular basis. However, the Deputy should note that care is required to ensure patient confidentiality is preserved and that no potential identification of individual patients arises. As a result, the data relating to confirmed cases by electoral division is not updated on as frequent a basis as the other data on the Data Hub.

The Deputy may also wish to note that a range data on the epidemiology of Covid-19 in Ireland is also published in the daily report by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) available at