I wish to thank all the Senators here today for helping to progress this Bill. This Bill has been in train for quite a long time and I especially wish to thank the officials from the Department for all the work they have done on it. The purpose of this Bill is to improve the registration and fitness to practise processes of the health professional regulatory bodies and to amend the five health regulatory Acts to give further effect to the EU professional qualifications directive. This modernised directive provides …

I thank Deputy Cullinane for his question. As we all know, the Minister for Health has been feeling unwell, has been referred for a Covid-19 test and is self-isolating. We all wish him well. I will endeavour to answer the questions posed as fully as possible. If any of my answers are insufficient, written answers can also be provided. In reply to the Deputy's very important question, resuming health and social care services and building health sector capacity and capability is a priority for the Government. The com…

The Deputy is correct we are living in unprecedented times. I do not think it is a statement of the obvious to announce €600 million to support people in the winter plan that runs throughout the winter until after Christmas. The Deputy is right when he says bed capacity is the most important thing going forward. The whole purpose of this plan is to try to keep as many people in their homes and in the community. The Department of Health is working with the HSE to increase acute capacity in hospitals throughout the c…

I take the Deputy’s point, which is well made, but he has to remember we are living in unprecedented times. We are learning as we go along. When the Covid pandemic hit in March and April, all of our capacity was put into the acute hospital sector because that is what we had learned from seeing what was happening in Europe. Unfortunately, the pandemic bore down hardest on our older generation. We lost 985 people in our nursing home system, and 54% of all those who have died to date were lost in the nursing home sect…

I thank the Deputy for his question. I will be engaging in detail with the Estimates process and seeking additional funding for all mental health services. The challenges of Covid and living with the virus have caused huge problems for those with mental health issues and challenges. In line with the programme for Government, promoting positive mental health and reducing the burden of illness can have benefits for everyone. Mental health service users are among the most vulnerable people in Ireland. I know the Deput…

I will refer to the budget first. Budget 2020 saw the Government continue its commitment to mental health by increasing funding by €39 million to €1.026 billion. This represents an increase of over €315 million or 45% since 2012. Admittedly, we have a long way to go, and I am very conscious of that. I have three priorities for Tipperary. My first priority and commitment is to have Jigsaw open in Thurles before Christmas. I have given that commitment and I will follow through on it. The second commitment I gave prev…

When I visited the emergency department, ED, in South Tipperary General Hospital, I was delighted to meet the team operating there. All mental health patients attending the ED are triaged in accordance with assessed clinical need with the objective of referring them as soon as possible to the HSE mental health service when they are discharged from the ED. The ED has a 24-hour mental health nurse liaison service for mental health patients, seven days a week. This was put in place in 2012 when St. Michael's closed do…

This is a very important question because the entire premise of Covid is test, trace and isolate. A comprehensive, reliable and responsive testing and tracing operation is central to our public health strategy. Capacity has been in place since early summer to test 15,000 people a day. While the system came under pressure in recent weeks, overall the system is working well and is proving central to our public health response. Rigorous contact tracing, automatic testing of close contacts, serial testing in high-risk …

As I said, 71,000 people were tested last week. We have had to ramp up testing considerably in the last four to six weeks because Covid has changed and is changing. It is more prevalent in communities now. In March, April and into May we were testing many people, but we managed to flatten the curve. The lockdown worked. People stayed at home and did not move further than 2 km from their location. However, as soon as we started to reopen society, Covid returned. Covid is not going anywhere. It is lying dormant and i…

Yes.

Testing of staff in nursing homes has been ongoing for the past two months and has proven very effective. As regards the meat factory the Deputy mentioned, I have two family members who have worked there for a very long time and they were tested last Thursday. There was a hullabaloo that there was no testing in meat factories last week, but in Dawn Meats in Grannagh over 800 people were tested last Thursday. We have to deal with the facts. The HSE is adding swabbing capacity in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Louth and G…

I thank the Deputy for keeping me on my toes today. First, I acknowledge the difficult year older people in our society have experienced as a result of Covid-19. They have shown tremendous resilience in helping to fight the spread of Covid-19. The issue the Deputy raises is one that is very close to me as Minister of State with responsibility for older people and mental health. Budget 2020 provided for an increase in the medical card thresholds for persons aged 70 and over. The threshold is currently €900 for a cou…

As the Deputy will be aware, I am here representing the Minister for Health. I am glad the Deputy accepts my bona fides on this matter because I have spoken to the Minister about it and we are very anxious to make progress on the medical cards. Currently, 75% of persons aged over 70 have a medical card and if the potential beneficiaries, which could be up to 56,000 people, materialise then an increase in the income thresholds would result in over 88% of this cohort being eligible for a medical card. It is an import…

I can certainly say that I was not one of the people who said this was a done deal because it was always contingent on there being a surplus in the budget in 2020 to deliver it. That was the small print that was written into it but who bothers with small print?

I was very clear on that. This was always dependent on a surplus. We are in unprecedented times. There is a pandemic. The Minister for Health has gone home because he is sick and he has to have a Covid test. We need to be very careful where we are. Some 357 people died today and our focus has to be on Covid. I want to see the threshold extended and I will be pushing hard for that during the Estimates and the budget. I have given that commitment on the floor of the Dáil. I have spoken to the Minister and he wants to…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 and 47 together. Like many other sectors of the economy, the construction sector was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This resulted in construction-related work on the site of the new children's hospital stopping on 31 March due to Covid-19 restrictions. On 18 May, the restrictions in respect of the construction sector were eased. From this date, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, NPHDB, engaged with the main contractor to ensure the earliest possible reopening…

The question that Deputy Daly initially asked related to the timeframe for the construction of the new children's hospital. I answered that by saying it would be completed at the end of 2022 and opened in 2023. Those are the dates I have been given. The Deputy also asked about the legal fees. In respect of legal costs, the NPHDB has statutory responsibility for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital. I have been informed that its legal fees were €409,000 in 2017, €128,000 in 2018 an…

I thank both Deputies for their constructive replies. Deputy Daly has issues in regard to County Kerry. I regret I am unable to answer them. There is probably not a Deputy in the country who does not have issues in regard to their constituency. I agree with Deputy Alan Kelly that the pilot programme rolled out in Tipperary is fantastic. There is a similar programme in Waterford, Waterford Integrated Care for Older People. It is about keeping older people in their communities with geriatrician care. Reablement in th…

I would like to correct the record. Speaking earlier, I may have inadvertently put the figures the wrong way around when I should have said there were 357 cases of Covid-19 and three deaths arising from the virus today. I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for her question, which refers to Belmullet.  The Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, has developed an extensive body of guidance and support tools on resident transfers and admissions, which as we all know are available on the HPSC website. The guidance sets out…

Covid-19 is a reality and we are living with it on a daily basis. As I stated, we had 357 cases today, with three people losing their lives. I do not believe that for any reason a medical person would ask somebody to travel that distance unless absolutely necessary. I have said that no community hospital around the country is taking direct admissions currently. This is best practice and a change in this process will be decided by NPHET and people above my pay grade. I am also aware the HSE has advised a number of s…