On 20 September 1997, the Taoiseach attended the wedding of Deirdre Langford and John Wall. The Taoiseach knows John Wall. He knows that the report on the provision of a medical card for those who are terminally ill will be brought to a meeting tomorrow. That report will not recommend such a card. The Taoiseach is on record as supporting this on 4 February. The Minister, Deputy Harris, did so on 12 December last year and the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, God knows how many times. This is a policy decision and …

That is why this is so ridiculous.

A couple of hundred thousand euro-----

The Estimates for the Department of the Taoiseach provide for an increase of €1.2 million for salaries. That is quite a substantial amount of money so the Taoiseach might outline what this increase is for. Will he break it down for us? I am sure he has the detail. A large number of extra special advisers have been added in the Department. We have been down this road before with regard to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party. What proportion of that €1.2 million relates to these new special …

The Taoiseach might provide detail on all of those. In written replies, the Taoiseach has said that the increased spending will continue throughout the whole-of-government response to Covid-19, including in the area of communicating public information. The advertising spend of the Department of the Taoiseach has increased by millions of euro. Are there extra people to deal with that? If so, what are they doing? Have any experts in this area been hired? The spend on advertising seems to be mostly at a national level…

My question relates to the CervicalCheck tribunal. On 26 October the Minister said he would postpone the tribunal when he met the 221+ group on Zoom. However, it was commenced the following day. The Minister signed the order on 23 October. Vicky Phelan, has announced, unfortunately, that her cancer is back. Lorraine, Stephen and all the members of the 221+ group are watching the Minister tonight for his answer. The Minister thinks he has more time than he has. We need all of these issues to be solved. They are very…

To refresh my memory, I have read everything the Minister ever said in regard to this matter, so I know what commitments he made. Second, he did meet with the group, but he did not take on board what was said. Two months passed, and he did not take on board what was said. He just commenced the tribunal without addressing the main issues. One or two of the smaller issues have been addressed since. I do not know why the Minister made a commitment on 26 October, having signed an order on 23 October, without rescinding…

I do not want the Minister to do that.

The Minister would want to stop with that attitude.

Has the Minister read his letter?

The Minister's attitude is appalling. He will not solve this issue with that attitude. He got a letter today explaining to him why that will not work. He obviously has not read it, or else he is choosing to ignore it. He is being quite ignorant on these issues. At this stage I have gone in-depth on all these issues for many years, specifically in relation to the tribunal. I know exactly what is needed. I have even supplied legislation to the Minister in regard to it, which he has ignored. I do not mind if he even t…

The Minister received a letter today.

If he did read it, the Minister would not say what he has said.

The Minister can change the law.

I produced legislation to deal with this issue.

No, the Minister has not. He does not realise how serious this issue is.

The Taoiseach-----

I endorse everything my colleagues have said on this matter. I have one additional point to make. Unless there is some capacity to distinguish between the risk of getting Covid for a nurse who is working full time and a nurse who is a fourth-year student, then this is an utterly disgraceful action and the Minister is putting students at risk as they strive to complete their education. The Minister cannot distinguish what he is doing now from what was done earlier this year. This is blatant exploitation and it is co…

There is a real issue for the Minister to deal with in this regard. Many of us have had student nurses and their parents contact us to tell their stories. Their health is at risk when colleagues go out sick with Covid and they have been thrown in at the deep end, being told to go into situations they did not expect to go into, sometimes with only a day's notice and certainly no more than a week's notice. The Minister needs to put them back on the HCA rate. It is completely and utterly unfair not to do so. I have sp…

The Minister will be delighted to hear that this is a question I probably will ask him every month for the duration of his Ministry. It relates to the number of health professionals the HSE has hired since the launch of the winter plan, the total increase this intake represents in net terms and the total HSE employment numbers. The Minister has made some deep and serious commitments on which I 100% want him to deliver. I would like to get a report month by month on their delivery.