I fully agree with the last point the Deputy made and when I received her letter, yesterday I think, I immediately set about seeking to see if I could do as the Deputy asked, which was to mandate that there would be an extension to the notice period for the reasons she has fairly articulated. I am informed that the regulations do not permit me, as Minister, to amend the decisions or vary the conditions. However, I want to say very clearly on the record of this House that I believe the deadline should be extended. I…

I will. I will undertake that my office will make contact today with the HSE and Beaumont Hospital to outline our view. I could say more but in the interests of time I do not think the Deputy would wish me to. The health research regulations do provide for an independent and diverse health research consent declaration committee and an independent appeals panel, which has to have regard to the evidence before it, and it sets the safeguards and the time limits, and the regulations do say that I cannot intervene in an…

I will write to the Deputy on the matter.

Sure.

My view remains - and has been conveyed to the disability organisations, to the HSE and to the Department - that that saving, or call it what one will, is not achievable in light of Covid. My Department is currently, as we do on a number of matters, engaging with other Departments. I truthfully hope to be able to bring the matter to a successful conclusion very shortly but I do not believe that 1% can be achieved this year. I want to provide them with the peace of mind of a letter confirming that. I cannot say to t…

We are getting there.

It is good, as the Deputy says, that we have had low use of it so far but I take the point it is not sustainable that this continues to be the case. The low occupancy rates to date are a direct impact of the public health measures we had. I remember standing in what would have been that field hospital in Citywest with the Taoiseach and the CEO of the HSE, thinking "It is great we have it but I hope we never have to use this." We do, as the Deputy rightly says, have use of this facility until at least the end of Oct…

The Deputy certainly deserves an answer in respect of the cost of using a recruitment firm and I will undertake to get that answer for him. I had not directly seen the query but now that the Deputy has brought it to my attention, we will follow up on that and revert to him. When we talk about HSE recruitment, Be On Call for Ireland and the like, we have to look at the total number of people who have been hired through the different doors and routes. I do not want to use up all the Deputy's time but, for example, so…

I have visited St. Mary's Centre and I know it. I will talk to the HSE about it and revert to the Deputy in writing.

I thank Deputy Barry for raising this important issue. I am conscious that people watching this debate, like all others, could be experiencing mental health challenges. There is support available. There is a very useful website, yourmentalhealth.ie , that can direct people to the supports. I would encourage anybody in need of supports to reach out. The Deputy was right to highlight this matter. A very serious mental health challenge will emerge from this crisis. People have lost so much certainty in their lives and…

Yes. First, the Deputy does not need to tell me that it has been 124 days since the general election. I thought, come what may, after the general election life would move on and we would have a Government but I have been barely home since. I am well aware it has been 124 days since the election. The Deputy engaged in talks but there is a great irony in that many people in the House did not darken our door or talk to anybody about forming a Government. Perhaps they should reflect on that, rather than attack those us…

The Deputy has raised children, residents in nursing homes, direct provision, meat factories and highlighted the inequalities in society-----

-----and I would like to talk about them. I have not received a letter from anybody in this House asking me to open a playground but I received many asking me to open golf clubs. That says a lot about our values as a society. In regard to BreastCheck and CervicalCheck, and any attempt to create a conspiracy theory in this regard, let us remember what we told people: "Do not leave your house. Stay at home". We suspended all non-Covid care other than the most essential in line with the National Public Health Emergenc…

NPHET made these decisions and I accept their advice in full. I support them 110%-----

-----but let us not create revisionism here. The idea that we would be telling women who were not sick to go to health services at a time when we were petrified everybody would get very sick from Covid-19 is ludicrous.

The women of Ireland will be reassured that the measures that will be taken in respect of the NSS will be taken in line with clinical advice rather than my political views of the world. I have already told the House today that by the end of this month the NSS will outline the restart dates for each of the four screening programmes. I fully agree with the Deputy that it is not acceptable that the website has not been updated since 5 May. I know they have been engaging with the Irish Cancer Society, the Marie Keating…

If we do not open them soon, I will have to borrow the Deputy's cap because-----

-----it is getting harder to stick our hair down every day. There is, however, a very serious point here. There are many people who want to go back to work and make a living and who employ people in every town and village. As I said earlier, there is also a mental health aspect to this issue. There are people, particularly older people, who get their hair done once a week not necessarily because they need to but because it makes them feel good. That is also important. The Government is now considering what will go …

The Deputy makes a valid point about barbers. I have been listening to them in the media recently and heard about the big efforts they have been making to adapt their premises. I heard them talk about bringing one or two customers in at a time. They are going to great lengths and I hope we can make progress on this. As a Government, we must consider the public health advice and I have outlined the timeline in that regard. On pubs, we have been clear about the types that might be able to open, which is those that ef…

I like to think I try to fight inequality as well. I think we all do in our own way. Certainly my comments describing the virus as a villain related to the fact that sometimes in this place there can be a culture of blame, such as blaming NPHET or blaming the HSE. From my experience, everyone has been working 24-7 to do their very best against the challenge of the virus. I offer my sincere apologies that we did not revert to the Deputy on her specific query on Merlin Park hospital. We will, of course, do that. On t…