There are issues on the ground there in terms of getting things moving. The planning application has just been lodged.

It cannot be done overnight.

I will take on board the Deputy's comments.

First, the current number of total adult critical care beds open and staffed is 278. There are 30 paediatric critical care beds open and staffed, 218 occupied adult critical care beds and 23 occupied paediatric critical care beds. There are 13 adult critical care beds reserved for patients and one paediatric critical care bed reserved for patients. The €600 million agreed by the Cabinet this week as part of the winter initiative is essentially a Covid winter initiative to take us through specifically the next six m…

In terms of testing and tracing, the recruitment campaigns are already under way. These are not just plans. This is happening and the staff are being recruited. Those are the figures open and staffed now. They may not be exactly what is available. The Deputy will be aware that during the pandemic a significant number of acute care beds and critical care beds were made available.

A surge capacity was created and that applies here as well.

I just wanted to give the Deputy the most up-to-date operational details as provided by the HSE for the number of critical beds available. There is ongoing work on procuring additional capacity on an initiative-by-initiative basis in terms of the private sector capacity to make sure we can get some elective procedures done and that elective procedures are not suspended as a result of overcrowding in the emergency departments and trauma departments. I intend to engage with all concerned, in particular, in the mid-we…

I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and was also in touch with Electric Ireland. By the way, in terms of energy pricing more generally, the cost over the past six months came down. In terms of the renewable energy piece, the Government remains committed to that. That is where we have to go as a country. Our over dependance on fossil fuels-----

Our over dependance on fossil fuels will be a continuing catalyst into the future for an increase in prices.

First, I thank the Deputy for raising what is an important heartbreaking issue for the families he met earlier and on behalf of whom he has spoken. The wider issue of bullying, in particular, cyberbullying, is doing a great deal of damage to people and undermining people's self-esteem, self-confidence and sense of well-being, and we need a far more robust legislative response to that. I certainly will work with the Deputy. I will ask Government to engage with Deputy Howlin on his legislation to see if we can progre…

First, I fully empathise with what the Deputies are saying. Obviously, public health advice has been the key influencer of this situation along with risk management in specific hospitals and locations. However, I take the point that the public health advice in this area should apply nationwide.

I would instinctively think it should be nationwide but it may be that in different hospitals one has different settings and different risks. In some maternity centres, they may have different practices, etc. I will engage with the acting Chief Medical Officer and HSE on this. It is difficult and traumatic for people. It should be a celebratory moment for many couples. It is a fundamental moment in life.

As the Deputy will be aware-----

-----in the earlier stages of the pandemic there were significant restrictions on people visiting hospitals which was difficult for them.

First, the Deputy might send us the details of the individual case. There are set processes and procedures for this. It is something that will have to be considered in our overall comprehensive Brexit planning. Invariably the decisions in these asylum cases are what is more fundamentally at issue. The Deputy says this person is due for deportation on Saturday. That clearly arises from consideration of his asylum application, that seems to be the difficulty. I ask the Deputy to forward the details to me.

It is a very difficult situation for certain sectors, particularly in hospitality and tourism. Travel agents are one sector which has had a collapse in revenue and income more generally. The Government took a decision to continue and extend the wage subsidy scheme to April of next year and there will be ongoing monitoring of the impact of that extension on certain jobs and enterprises. The Government is also looking at sectors which, because of Government mandate arising from public health advice, are not in a posi…

I know the situation about sport. Public health advice on this has been consistent from the beginning. They are very concerned about crowds gathering

People have been attacking us all day about confusion, clarity and this that and the other. I know the Deputy is genuine in the position from which he is coming but public health advisors have a very strong view about toing and froing and households mixing in cars travelling to matches and congregating. The plan is to allow 200 in a stadium with over 5,000 capacity. In very large stadiums there is room for engagement between NPHET and the sporting organisations but that is for more significant events. The figure of…

I did not just open it, as Minister for Health I made sure it happened and I worked with the people involved. The Deputy wrote to me and I read the letter last evening, but the reasons for the closure were not spelled out. I would like to engage with the Deputy on that. The original idea was that it was to be an addiction centre. Traditionally health authorities are against residential-type addiction centres. This centre was originally developed by the Matt Talbot centre which has a non-methadone addiction service.…

On the local services, the Deputy might forward further details to me. A full audit of mental services is there. Recruitment of personnel at a psychiatric level and in child and adolescent centres is one of the challenges for mental health services.