I am best placed to answer that. I thank the Deputy very much. He is correct in that the climate agenda is immense. The commitments in that regard are very clear in the programme for Government, but it is not just for the benefit of climate change, as it is also a crucial time to get people back to work, as there are significant job creation opportunities here and in terms of career pathways. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I published the Government's new strategy for further education and trainin…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter in the House but, in doing so, I have to take the opportunity, once again, to update the House on Covid-19, our response to it and its impact on the health service because it very much goes to the heart of how we deliver health services in the coming days, weeks and months. First, and most importantly, I want to express my sympathy to the family and friends of those who have been lost to Covid-19 throughout this pandemic, and most particularly since we last met in th…

I thank the Deputy for the range of questions and I will write to her on the answers I do not reach. I received a letter from Ms King of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as well and either I have written or am about to write to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, about it. I had a meeting with representatives of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation about it as well. There seems to be logic in what they are trying to achieve with respect to the capture of data, and I would like to see engagement with them to see…

Sure.

I am relying on my memory but my understanding is that the 60-bed block is due to be completed and hopefully operational by the end of the year; November is in my mind in that regard. There is funding agreed with the HSE to ensure that that opens. I will follow up on the 96-bed block and ask that the HSE responds to the Deputy directly but I would be eager that it does progress at least to the next stage. I have accepted that the mid-west has a shortage of beds. That is the reason we had sanctioned the 60-bed block…

I thank Deputies Feighan and Dillon. I thank Deputy Feighan for raising the issue in regard to churches. This is an issue where common sense needs to prevail. It is an issue that myself and the Taoiseach have asked the National Public Health Emergency Team to give some consideration to at its meeting tomorrow and to provide some advice to Government before we make our decisions tomorrow as to how to proceed to phase 3. I feel very strongly about this issue for a couple of reasons. First, religious freedom is very i…

Deputy Smyth is entirely correct. As our hospitals and health service get busier again, people in this House rightly ask me how we are going to resume non-Covid-19 care alongside Covid-19 care. That will present real challenges for our health service, but also opportunities to do things differently. Today the HSE published the framework which includes the criteria it is sending out to the system. It outlines the things the management of hospitals or community care settings must be conscious of and asks how they int…

Yes. By way of assurance I should say that very strict protocols have been agreed in respect of both admissions to and discharges from long-term residential care facilities for the reasons Deputy Smyth mentions, namely, infection control and the need to prevent clusters from re-emerging in nursing homes that have thankfully now been Covid-19-free for a significant period of time. More than 190 nursing homes that had an outbreak of Covid-19 are now Covid-19-free, which means they have not had a Covid-19 case for 28 …

I know Deputy Smyth will agree that our health service workers and their unions have been incredibly flexible where redeployment is concerned. I have never seen co-operation like what we have seen from all the unions and representative bodies during the Covid-19 crisis. That issue arises as we begin to deploy people back to where they originally came from. People want to get back to their day jobs where it is safe and appropriate to do so. We will need to have a discussion about what an agreement for redeployment i…

There are two parts to that issue, namely, the people who very kindly came back from abroad to help our country and the people looking in the other direction, who were thinking of going abroad but did not do so because of the travel restrictions and the desire to help their country. I spoke to the CEO of the HSE about both groups this morning. He and I are of a mind that we need a specific campaign to keep those people. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to break the cycle by which really highly qualified people…

I thank the Deputy for her questions. In regard to Bantry General Hospital, I am pleased to give her a commitment that I have no intention for the hospital to be in any way downgraded. I had the pleasure of visiting it a year and a half or two years ago and it is a superb facility. In fact, I would like it to be busier. It needs to be busier. I do not say that as a criticism of the people working there, who also want to see it busier. Indeed, what we need to do with hospitals other than the level 4 facilities is ma…

"Yes" is the short answer. We have already seen some services move from public hospitals to private hospitals because of capacity issues. We need to retain that facility and I also see an opportunity to secure some capacity in private hospitals for elective work, recognising the Deputy's point that there are significant waiting lists and access issues which have been exacerbated further by Covid.

As I said, it will be a matter for the new Government to decide the timeline in that regard. A huge amount of preparatory work is being carried out in the Department of Health, including a massive public consultation in which many thousands of people gave their views. I do not want to tie the hands of a new Government but I would like to see that prioritised by this House. It would be possible to bring forward legislation towards the end of this year or at the very start of 2021. Being realistic, this would have an…

I think the Deputy certainly will. It is a great hospital and has a very bright future.

I think it was "Spin Féin". We have all learned it.

I am feeling uncomfortable.

I have a little bit of time to respond. Unfortunately the word "spin" does not fit as well into the name of the Deputy's party but he gave it a fairly good go there. I genuinely get a little bit upset when somebody suggests that anyone is being hypocritical praising healthcare staff. No political grouping owns them. They are all our families, friends, members of our communities and constituents and we are all very grateful for what they do. It is possible to create a universal healthcare system like the NHS and sti…

I have been in touch with Dr. O'Connor who I have a lot of time for. As I said on a number of occasions, the plan for the doctors and other healthcare professionals who came home - and the category who did not come home but were planning on leaving and could not because of Covid - is to try to offer as many of them posts in the Irish health service as possible. That does not mean - I cannot be disingenuous here - people will be required in the posts that they are currently in. However, there is an opportunity here …

We cannot hire them on the floor of the Chamber.

I cannot pre-empt what Cabinet will decide tomorrow but I think that there is a very strong case for looking at how we can further promote the wearing of face coverings in particular settings. One often does that by changing a law or regulation and that in itself creates such an environment. I take the Deputy's point about not wishing to put drivers in difficult positions and I will certainly reflect that to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.