I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, after line 33, to insert the following: “ “relevant statutory instrument” means any regulation made under the sections inserted in the Act of 1947 by— (a) this Act, (b) the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, (c) the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020, (d) the Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020, (e) the Health (Amendment) Act 2020, and (f) the Health (Amendment) (No. 2)…

I am.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, after line 33, to insert the following: “ Parliamentary oversight of Covid-19 regulations 2 . (1) Every relevant statutory instrument made by the Minister shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas not less than 48 hours before they come into effect and— (a) where, before the date on which paragraph (b) would have effect, a resolution annulling the instrument is passed by either such House, the instrument shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity o…

I will be very brief on this amendment. I commend the Deputy on tabling this amendment as it is a very important one which I was hoping the Minister would accept. We have already talked about what this legislation is intended to do. The Minister set out the rationale for that and it is not going to stop this new variant from coming. If we were to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine, this would be to slow it down. These are the layers of protection the Minister talked about. If that is the case, then we can make ex…

I move amendment No. 7: “ Report of the Minister 5. Not less than two weeks before any motion for a renewal of the provisions of this Act, a report on how they have been applied or enforced shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. The report shall include: (a) information, including statistical breakdown, on implementation of these provisions; (b) information, including statistical breakdown, on breaches of these provisions; (c) information on how public duty of equality and human rights has been reflect…

The reason there is a number of speakers is that this relates to the Saolta University Health Care Group and the latest data which have come from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and the Irish Patients Association regarding the number of patients in the north-west and west region who are on long waiting lists. In addition, the trolley count is particularly high. In fact, it is the highest of any part of the country. Last week alone, and despite the fact that there were widespread cancellations of elective…

The statement the Minister of State was given referred to additional beds that have been brought into the system. In her speech, she mentioned 800 new acute beds and she went on to detail some of them. She did not say that many of these beds are actually replacement beds. A few days ago, I was in Portiuncula hospital and met the hospital manager. The Minister of State spoke about 62 beds, but 50 of those are replacement beds and only 12 are new. They are single isolation room beds which are replacing wards that are…

They are still open.

They are open now.

We all hoped we would be in a different situation going into December and the Christmas period. We must all reflect on the current trajectory of the disease, the current daily case numbers, the number of people who are hospitalised, the numbers in ICU and the very difficult situation we have in our hospitals. At the same time, for anyone who gets sick with Covid, it is difficult for them and their families. As I said, we all hoped we would be in a different space but we are not. This disease is very stubborn. It ha…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and emergency services are at crisis point, with health care professionals expecting a very challenging winter with insufficient ambulance capacity; — response time standards state that life-threatening callouts should be responded to within 19 minutes in 81.5 per cent of cases; — State-wide response times for life-threatening callouts (Clinical Status 1 – ECHO: Patients who are in cardiac or respiratory arrest) within this timeframe have…

It is a sad reflection on our health service that many people cannot access a GP. As the Minister knows, in some parts of Dublin and in some rural areas, people cannot register with a GP because of a shortage. We are now seeing waiting lists and waiting times for GPs. In the past, people could contact their GP and get an appointment that day or within two or three days. That is now being pushed out to a week or longer. Out-of-hours GP services are inaccessible or not available to far too many patients. That is putt…

I am sharing time with some of my colleagues. Grace was failed by the State and by individuals in charge of her care. Some 46 others went through this home and it is welcome that all of their cases will be fully investigated. Grace was failed by the South Eastern Health Board and by a system that did not have adequate safeguarding laws and processes in place. Red flags were raised but they were ignored and no action was taken. There are a lot of parallels with the Brandon case the Minister of State raised. I echo h…

There is no better man than the Minister of State to dredge.

Helvick is a working sea fisheries harbour in the west Waterford Gaeltacht. It also hosts an RNLI lifeboat station that serves the bay of Dungarvan and the surrounding coastal zone. A build-up of sand and silt in the harbour has resulted in it becoming inaccessible and unnavigable at low tide. Fishing boats can neither enter nor leave the harbour, except at high tide, and the lifeboat is on restricted service. This means it cannot launch for 90 minutes each side of low tide, which equates to approximately three hou…

I do not think the RNLI lifeboat station, the people who work in that area or the fishers really care where the money comes from. Whether it comes from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not the issue for them. The problem relates to when Departments operate in silos and there is not a joined-up approach. On the one hand, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has indicated that it will fund the dredging or at least receive a…

That is quite an elevation. Hospitals are at breaking point. Several have already begun cancelling scheduled care to cope with overflows from record emergency department admissions. Yesterday morning, more than 515 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed. They were left on trolleys or chairs in ward corners, corridors and waiting rooms. Last week, more than 1,800 patients were languishing on hospital trolleys. The Saolta University Health Care Group, which serves the north-west and west regions, is worst a…

We will have to wait and see exactly what is in the memo the Minister brings to Cabinet. The reality is there have been three meetings between the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and the HSE. This is an industrial relations issue, and yet that healthcare trade union and those student nurses and midwives outside the Dáil had to read in a newspaper what may or may not be in the memo. I ask the Tánaiste directly whether there will be engagement with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation on precisely what i…

According to media reports this morning, thousands of households across the State are set to be hit with a rise in the cost of bin collections and TV packages along with more energy price increases. The Tánaiste will be aware that inflation is now running at greater than 5% and is likely to continue upwards next year. We also know that energy poverty is becoming a growing problem across the State. Energy prices are soaring. We will see a further increase in the carbon tax, which will increase fuel costs even more. …

This is not the first time we have been here, where we have come back to see an extension of the emergency powers. From the outset I will say that I will oppose the motion, as I have previous motions the Minister has brought forward. I say this, and I hope the Minister accepts it, not because I oppose continuing levels of public health measures. In fact, I support them. I support the wearing of face masks, testing requirements, travel restrictions, passenger locator forms and other measures deemed essential to comb…