Now for another stream of consciousness. I join the Taoiseach and other leaders in offering the Labour Party's collective sympathies to those who have lost loved ones this week, although I must acknowledge that the trends we are seeing are very positive. I thank everybody for their collective work across the country on this. I also pay tribute to our front-line heroes. This week saw International Nurses Day. We all acknowledge the incredible work done by nurses across the country. However, it is not enough simply t…

I have two groups of questions. Perhaps we will divide them and spend five minutes on each. The Minister will not be surprised that my first set of questions relates to the famous letters I have been requesting for three and a half weeks and which I now have. They are explosive. I can see why the Minister did not want to publish them and why I had to keep asking for them. They would have been revealed one way or the other because I had asked a parliamentary question in respect of them and half a dozen freedom of in…

They are six weeks behind.

The Minister might produce the documentation I requested as regards the approval process for people. The simple fact of the matter is that the Minister is still denying that in this process there is a governance process. There is the Government, there is the Minister, there is the board of the HSE and there is NPHET. A process was agreed as regards testing by the HSE through the Cabinet sub-committee. Then it went outside that process and was announced. That is essentially what these letters, in black and white for…

Why make an announcement that-----

The Minister can sign an order to ensure-----

I again pay tribute to all our workers who are doing such an amazing job for us at this time, particularly those on the front line. I offer my condolences and those of my party to all the families who have lost loved ones over the past week. I will raise four issues with the Taoiseach: I will again refer to the issue of transparency; I will concentrate to a significant degree on secondary non-Covid morbidity, which is a real issue; I will also mention the disability sector, which has been forgotten about; and I wil…

A plan for reorientating, redeveloping and restarting the health service. It has to be the HSE; it cannot be NPHET. The latter has a certain mandate and a certain competency but it is the HSE's role to deliver health services in this country, otherwise, the board and governance of the HSE may as well not be there. A piece missing from the puzzle is the issue of normality. I fear that in order to get people back to going to their appointments and re-engaging with the health service, the Government will have to look …

The Taoiseach is welcome to answer them in any form he wants. He gets enough opportunities, in fairness.

I have written to the Taoiseach and he has refused to reply to my letters. Why does he not write back?

The Taoiseach still has answers. He is the Taoiseach of the country, for now.

Will the Taoiseach publish the letters or not?

That is what I am asking.

By the sound of it, we will have to go back to using freedom of information requests.

A sign of things to come.

I commence my contribution by paying my respects to all the people who have lost their lives and their families. May those who have died rest in peace. I also again thank all the workers making such sacrifices for us all. Coming up to May Day, I hope that will be acknowledged in some significant way this year above all years. There are four areas I will speak to today. The first relates to the transparency of the Government's actions and the second relates to testing and Government contributions around that. The th…

Given her County Tipperary genealogy, I welcome Deputy McDonald back to the House and wish her well. Since we met last week, 4,124 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and, sadly, a further 337 have passed away. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those who have passed away and we wish all of those who have been diagnosed with the virus a speedy recovery. I think, in particular, of my friend and neighbour, Kieran Maguire, who lost his life in the past few days. I think of his family at this tim…

I congratulate my near neighbour on his maiden speech. The financial projections published by the Minister earlier this week, particularly the bleak outlook on job losses and the financial deficit in which we find ourselves, are very worrying. I know these are uncharted waters and that some of this involves guesstimates, but this is increasingly worrying given the devastating impact it will have. Covid-19 has obviously had a devastating impact across the global economy and it will affect us in a proportionate way. …

I never realised I was so popular in this House until today. It might be a product of the political environment we are in at the moment, but I thank the Taoiseach and other Teachtaí Dála for their good wishes. I also pass on my best wishes to Deputy McDonald. A total of 11,497 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and 444 people have, sadly, passed away. I pay tribute to all of those who are recovering and have recovered, and pass on my thoughts and those of the Labour Party to all those who have lost cherished …

I will go through my questions quickly if the Taoiseach could answer them in the order in which they are asked. Will the Taoiseach publish the deal that has been made with private hospitals? I do not know why there is so much secrecy around this because the deal should be published. Will the Government do so immediately so we can all look at it? I share some of the concerns about testing that were expressed by others, particularly Deputy Shortall. A number of weekends ago, we ran into an issue about the reagent whi…