This question relates to testing and tracing. Testing and tracing are the foundation of getting everything right over the next number of months. We have been asking the Government for some time to ramp up testing and tracing. In fact, the calls we made were rubbished and dismissed by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in the past. We now see that we were right and we are paying the price for the fact that we do not have enough capacity. What action is the Government taking to ratchet up capacity in testing and tracing?

The plan announced today will only be effective if we get testing and tracing right. It will not be worth the paper it is written on if the failures of recent times continue. That is not to say testing has not been happening because it has, but it has not been happening at the rates at which it should be happening and it is not quick enough, despite all the promises that were made. We have been calling for this for some time, but those calls have fallen on deaf ears. We saw what happened in meat plants and we see w…

Testing and tracing are the way to stay ahead of the virus.

Of course, when people were in lockdown the numbers were going to go down. My point is that it was pointed out that when the economy started to reopen we would see more community transmission and the virus would look for places to spread. That is what happened. The way to prevent that, because prevention is what we need, is to ratchet up testing and tracing. The Government failed to do it in nursing homes originally, and it failed to do it in meat plants. The Minister of State may have heard of a cluster in a meat …

That is what happens when a party wins 37 seats.

In last year's budget, the Government announced that it would extend the medical card to seven and eight year olds and extend medical card eligibility for the over-70s by changing the eligibility criteria and the thresholds for entry. It also promised that all people with a terminal illness would have a medical card, and examining that issue was in the programme for Government. We passed a Bill on this matter in this House a number of weeks ago. There has still been no progress on these issues and my constituency o…

I do not think those over 70 will take any comfort from the fact that this might be addressed again in this year's budget. I do not doubt the Minister of State's sincerity or her association with this issue. The problem is that last year, in my constituency and around the State, Government Deputies were going around saying that this was one of the great things they had in the budget. They said that more people over 70 would get medical cards, as would seven and eight year olds, but that has not happened. We are now…

I will make the point again that this was voted on in last year's budget. I do not think there is a Deputy in this Chamber, whether Government or Opposition, who has not been lobbied or received correspondence from parents of children and from older people about this. I also raised the issue of cancer patients and other patients with terminal illnesses who were promised that medical cards for them would also be examined. When Fianna Fáil was involved in the confidence and supply agreement and was taking credit for …

That is not what the Government says at budget time.

I thank the Minister of State for taking these statements on this issue. I have consulted with many disability groups over recent weeks and months, as I am sure the Minister of State has. We all know that Covid has had a dramatic impact on people's lives. Children and adults with a disability have had a harrowing time, and their parents and those who care for, support and love them have been doing their best. I wish to deal with the high-level issues first, before I get to issues that existed even before Covid, and…

Sinn Féin has consistently set out a common sense approach to tackling the pandemic. This is in stark contrast to the approach of the Government at times, which includes ideas many people see as bonkers, mixed messaging and missed targets in respect of testing and tracing. We proposed an amendment to the motion, which was ruled out of order. This amendment called for the removal of the substantial meal requirement and meal recording regulations, which would allow the remaining closed pubs to reopen as gastropubs ha…

The Minister said there was a pathway to opening up screening services and rather than setting out that pathway, he gave us a restatement of what has happened in recent times, rather than giving us real information on how those services will be opened in the time ahead. The Minister is also saying the Government will come forward with a plan on how to live with this virus but where is the discussion with other parties? Where is the debate on these issues leading into such decisions? If we are all in this together t…

The Minister proposed allowing the Garda to have more powers to enter peoples' homes.

The Minister's presentation of those arguments and issues was contradicted by the Taoiseach and other Government Ministers minutes and days later. That is a fact.

There was fearmongering about having second lockdowns, when the Minister had to be contradicted again by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and other front-line Ministers. The Minister was also contradicted by the acting Chief Medical Officer. The Minister also did an interview in which he compared children who are going to school and the dangers and risks associated with that with children on trampolines. Such comments, imagery and mixed messaging, as well as the requirement to have to keep records of what people eat in …

I welcome the Minister back. He has been here a few times over recent days. I welcome the opportunity to have this debate. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a decades-long failure to build a public health system with enough doctors, nurses and beds. It has resulted in an unprecedented interruption to normal healthcare services, affecting community and acute settings. Our health service is now under pressure on several fronts. It is dealing with overworked staff, Covid care, non-Covid care, catching up on delayed ca…

I am sorry; I have seven minutes. I again raise with the Minister the testing and tracing regime. I genuinely believe that we have to do better. I looked at the figures for Scotland and it is doing far more than us. I have consistently called for a Rolls-Royce testing and tracing regime which we would use to hunt down the virus. It would not be reactive, but proactive. We would test as many people as we could in a very targeted way. That is the most effective way to avoid more lockdowns and to put us in a strong po…

I will give my remaining time to my colleague.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — this State has the third highest rate of cancer in the world with more than 43,000 cancers diagnosed on an annual basis; — the importance of catching cancer early is indisputable; — fewer than 100,000 people were screened in the first half of this year compared to 500,000 in all of 2019, with the National Screening Service saying that they are ‘unable to screen people at the same numbers’ as they did pre-Covid-19; and — medical oncology services are operating at about 70 per…

I want to offer some clarification that might be helpful. We are proposing the motion and then the speaking order kicks in, which would be Sinn Féin and then Labour. I imagine that is what it is.