It is completed and it was due to go before the Cabinet. The question is whether it is appropriate to bring it now or if it should wait for a new Government. I think it would be appropriate to bring it now. I will check that and come back to Deputy Shortall. I will meet with Mental Health Reform before we next meet. I am scheduled to meet Jigsaw as well. I think it is on next Thursday. In response to the question on childcare, in the time available to me I can say that we have an in-reach childcare proposal. I hope…

As the Deputy knows, HIQA has started its visits to nursing homes, both private and public. It published a new assessment framework, I think last Tuesday, and it has started those visits. HIQA is the regulator. It has a direct line to me and I meet it at least once or twice a week. It is in a position to highlight any issues of concern it may have. I repeat and stand by the comments I made in this House last week on clinical decisions deciding the care people get. Regarding the Professor Barry letter to which Deput…

I thank Deputy Paul Murphy. I have done everything I can to be transparent in relation to this. First, payment will be on a cost only open-book model whereby the hospitals will be reimbursed only for the operating costs properly incurred during the period. The costs that will be covered will be limited to normal costs of operating the hospital. Since the rationale for the arrangement relates to the Covid-19 pandemic for which no one can provide a definitive time horizon, it is not possible to indicate a precise cos…

I will ask for the HSE or the Department to respond to the Deputy in writing on this matter in the coming days. I want to be clear that nobody is meant to be profiteering as a result of this. The whole purpose here is to ensure that nobody can make a profit and we pay solely according to the cost-only open-book model. We were in a very lucky position to be able to acquire the use of these facilities. Thank God we have not needed to use their ICU capacities yet. The HSE will respond directly to the Deputy in the com…

To be helpful, I will keep my answers snappy in order to try to make up time. I thank Deputy Fitzpatrick for raising this important matter. I agree that there needs to be good co-operation between the North and the South, between the Republic and Northern Ireland. The Tánaiste and I had a regular meeting today with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Deputy First Minister and the Minister of Health, along with our officials, to look at how we can continue to share information and co-operate. I am due t…

The Government has not yet agreed a plan but I expect that it will do so at its meeting tomorrow. I expect that the Taoiseach will be in a position to share that plan with this House and the country, possibly as soon as tomorrow. The plan will be guided by the recommendations of the National Public Health Emergency Team. We will follow public health advice first, second and third. The plan will endeavour to set out a roadmap as to how to reopen parts of our economy and society in a manner that is consistent with go…

The percentage of our population that has been tested is currently the sixth highest in the European Union. I have lost my document about that but we are currently very high up in the context of number of people here who have been tested. We are ramping up and significantly expanding our testing this week, next week and the week after, which I think will see many more people tested. We decide who is tested based on what is called the case definition, which is the view given to us by the National Public Health Emerg…

I will leave the financial element to my colleague, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, but I know she already has plans in that regard and will continue to work with the business community. From a public health point of view, Deputy Fitzpatrick is entirely correct. We need to provide as much support and advice to businesses, sports clubs, schools, etc. so they can adapt to what is going to be a new reality, at least for the time being, regarding physical distancing. When the roa…

Very clear protocols are in place before a patient will be transferred from an acute hospital back to a nursing home. That is for two reasons. One is the well-being of the patient and to ensure he or she is clinically fit to be discharged from the hospital, while the other is the well-being of other patients and to ensure that the coronavirus has definitely left the patient and does not spread. I assure families that clinical guidance and assessment is taken in this regard. I also assure the people of Ireland that …

In the 27 seconds available to me, and I will write to the Deputy regarding this matter, I can say that we have now brought in a new passenger form. Anybody, regardless of whether they are a seasonal worker or an Irish person returning to the country, must fill in that form to state where he or she is going to be self-isolating for the 14 days. That form can be checked and followed up, and the Government is considering whether we need to regulate further to underpin that measure.

I have about five seconds left.

I thank Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. I will have to look into this matter some more and respond to him and Deputy Michael Healy-Rae in writing on this matter. I have been informed that all residents who have tested positive have been notified and have been moved to self-isolation facilities. If any further test results are notified by HSE public health as positive, immediate measures to self isolate will also be invoked. The Department of Justice and Equality will continue to follow all public health advice and instruct…

I was going to-----

I very kindly sat down while I was in the middle of answering a question.

I will. The Deputy raised a matter but I am very conscious that on the floor of Dáil Éireann, our national Parliament, I am trying to balance the answering of questions with the protection of rights of individuals and requirements under law to protect the identity and medical confidentiality of residents. I know the Department of Justice and Equality and the HSE issued a joint statement on 23 April and I am told by the Department that officials are trying to provide as much information to local representatives as t…

I appreciate that Deputy Healy-Rae outlined his concern being primarily for the people in the facility because in respect of everybody in our country, regardless of how they got to our country, whether they are a citizen or not a citizen, whether they are seeking asylum, we have a duty of care to everybody during this global pandemic and treating everybody equally in that regard. That is why I am very reluctant on the floor of the House to provide information on one residential setting - a direct provision centre -…

I will email an 11-page briefing note on the mobile app to the Deputy this evening and make it available to other Members on the appropriate forum. The Deputy made an interesting point regarding the representation of psychiatry on NPHET. I will discuss the matter with its chair. The Deputy is correct that there is a significant mental health challenge. I am due to engage with several mental health advocacy groups in the coming days. Deputy Browne suggested last week in the House that there is a need for a mental he…

That is fine. The assertion made by the Deputy this week-----

I will reply to the Deputy. She claimed that nursing homes were not mentioned in a briefing note. I can send her any number of briefing notes relating to the work we are doing on nursing homes. The figure I have is that 28,000 swabs had been completed in long-term residential care settings as of 27 April. I apologise if I misspoke when quoting the figure initially. I expect that number to have increased since then and will provide the Deputy with the up-to-date figure as soon as I get it. As of 26 April, 11,500 lab…

I welcome this opportunity to update the House on Covid-19 and our response to it. First, and most importantly, I wish to express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of those we have lost to this disease since this House last met. I am conscious that news bulletins every night are full of statistics and reports of new cases and new deaths but we should never forget that behind every number, every death, is a grieving family, friends, colleagues and a grieving community. That grief is compounded even fu…