The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, said earlier that she understands the difficulties workers face. She also said that politicians and political parties should be judged on their actions and not their words. So, let us judge this Minister and this Government and Fine Gael on their actions when it comes to workers. What about the Debenhams workers who are striking at the moment in the cold and rain and who have been abandoned by the same Minister and by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. …

The task ahead for the Government, indeed for all Members of this House, must be to break the cycle of lockdowns. This can be achieved by exiting restrictions safely this year, with the protections in place to avoid future lockdowns in the new year. That means getting the basics right and requires testing and tracing with a dedicated workforce; mass testing; a proper system of travel restrictions with robust airport testing; adequately-funded public health departments; and, vitally, all-island co-operation. All pla…

-----or perhaps he is concerned about what I am saying. The facts speak for themselves. In January and February every year, record numbers of people are on hospital trolleys, including under the watch of the previous Government, which the Taoiseach supported. I want to finish very quickly, if I can, on the development of several effective vaccines, which is exciting news. It is vital we get distribution and administration right. It has to be rapid and fair with clear processes in place. I welcome the high-level tas…

It is not just me but also members of the Taoiseach's party who have called for this.

We are calling for that to happen on 16 December. We read in the media that the Taoiseach will produce a plan a week before that. Is he saying it is not the job of the health committee to scrutinise it and make sure the infrastructure is in place?

This vaccine could come very quickly. The Taoiseach seems to be allergic to people coming before committees or before the House. He should not be looking down his nose at people who call for it.

I welcome everybody to the Chamber and, in particular, the Chairman, Deputy McNamara, who did a very good job over the course of the months that the committee sat. I cannot say I agreed with everything the Chairman said before, during and after the publication of the report, but he was a very diligent Chairman. It was a very useful committee that sat at a very important time, and it played a very important role in terms of guiding the work of the Oireachtas at a crucial time. I commend the Chairman on his work and …

In the early stages of the pandemic, we supported emergency measures that we felt were necessary to ensure there was a level of enforcement of the restrictions that were introduced. Despite some commentary from the Minister's party leader, and also from the Taoiseach, that the Opposition has not been supportive on occasions, the support that the Government in this State has got from the Opposition compares favourably with other states in Europe and around the world. There has been widespread support and acceptance …

My question relates to issues regarding the availability of the flu vaccine, not just for adults but also for children. I have been contacted by a number of pharmacies and GPs and they say that demand has certainly exceeded supply. I discussed this issue with the Minister personally in recent days. It is important, and I take this opportunity to encourage people to get the vaccine if they can, especially for children. However, there is a concern that we do not have enough vaccines to meet the demand. Can the Minist…

I accept that the numbers this year are greater than last year. Some 950,000 doses were available last year for adults and it is 1.35 million this year. However, the anecdotal evidence, and the Minister has just confirmed that it is not only anecdotal but a fact, is that we simply will not have enough for those who need it. I read the ministerial brief in detail and it referred to a very ambitious programme this year and ensuring, insofar as possible, we have a general roll-out of this vaccine in the population. I …

It is unfortunate that we simply will not have enough for those who need it. Of course, those who are at risk should be protected. I wish to make a final point about vaccines and it relates to the possibility of a vaccine for Covid-19. My party supports the Right to Cure campaign, an EU-wide campaign that calls for all treatments, therapies and vaccines related to Covid-19 to be universally and freely available. Can the Minister inform the House what orders have been made for any of the trial Covid vaccines? How wi…

This question seeks an outline from the Minister on his and the Government's plans to enhance testing and tracing, to put in place a more proactive and robust system, and to have a system in place that is fit for purpose and that can be used to hunt down the virus but also stay ahead of it so that when we get to a situation, which I hope we will, where the numbers are much lower and we can come out of this current lockdown, we will have strength in numbers in terms of a robust system to aggressively keep the virus …

We need more capacity both in testing and tracing. On the testing side, we need to increase lab capacity. We can have more swabbers but if we end up with a bottleneck in the labs to do the testing, then we have a problem. With regard to tracing, the problem is the system collapsed for a couple of days and more than 1,900 patients, unfortunately, became contact tracers themselves. When the head of testing and tracing was before the health committee, she said that the metric used to ascertain how many tracers are act…

Several Members here attended the committee hearing with the head of testing and tracing. There was much spin beforehand in terms of the public commentary from Ministers and even the press statements from the Government that we would see an additional 800 tracers. As it turns out, it was to bring us to 800. We were going to go from 581 to 800. We were told by the head of testing and tracing at the committee that the number needed to ensure we had a safe service, according to the metric used, was 800. At that point,…

My question seeks an update on the national children's hospital. Is the Minister aware of any additional cost overruns associated with a delay in the completion of the project due to Covid? What is the anticipated total cost of the project? When it is anticipated that the hospital will open for patients?

The problem is that the chief strategy and planning officer of the HSE told the Joint Committee on Health some weeks ago that delivering the project by 2023 would be challenging. He expressed a hope that it will be possible to open it in 2023 but stated there was no guarantee of that. The Minister referred to additional claims. It is important for him to furnish such information to all Members. I am looking for his view on any additional claims that arose in 2019 or 2020. Members are aware that even before Covid st…

We all hope that is the case. In the minute I have left I might again put the questions the Minister was not in a position to answer earlier. What is his understanding of the nature of the confidential GP contract, as we know it was, on 16 April 2019 when he spoke in the Dáil Chamber? Was it his view that that contract was widely available and known among GPs? As the current Minister for Health, does he think it was acceptable that the then Head of Government would have leaked that document to a rival organisation?…

I am asking about any information, documents or emails that might have been exchanged between the Department of Health, the HSE, the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach with the National Association of General Practitioners between April 2019 and May 2019.

Was it appropriate for the then Taoiseach to leak them?

It is unacceptable that this legislation is being rushed through the Dáil and the Seanad in one day without proper scrutiny. The Minister will say, of course, that this is necessary because these measures have to be brought in as quickly as possible but we know that rushed legislation is never the answer. Elements of this Bill are obviously necessary but others concern me. Our job, in opposition, and the job of Government backbenchers, is to scrutinise legislation, make sure it is fit for purpose and ensure that we…