I am sorry. I heard the Deputy ask about clusters. I could not hear her properly.

That is not my understanding. I will confirm that in writing but it is not my understanding. In regard to private hospitals, I issued a letter through my Department to the HSE about the importance of continuity of care. One cannot just wash one's hands of one's patient. Whether it is a public or a private hospital, there is a continuity of care duty. Our doctors take that very seriously and we have issued that clarification. I am happy to take the details of that individual case but I would not like to see that ari…

If we can join up plans better, we should, so I would like to hear from Dr. Lambert and I would welcome his input in that regard. Did I miss the Deputy's last question?

I do not have that information, but I would very much like to see it as well. I will try to get that figure for the Deputy this week.

First, I acknowledge the huge cross-party and cross-grouping support, interest and work in respect of this issue. I think there are ten groupings in this House between parties and groupings of Independents. The co-operation, collaboration and support from each and every one of those groupings is at the level that I think the Irish people would expect. The Irish people are not expecting us to approach this in a partisan manner, nor do I believe their people's representatives are and I take Deputy Michael Healy-Rae's…

Officials who are working extraordinarily hard seven days a week and who have not seen their families in weeks are working and making themselves available, as they want to and should, to brief Deputies and keep them up to date. They are doing a superb job and they deserve our support. In addition to that, myself and the Taoiseach will again brief leaders of all groupings in this House today as we are doing on at least a weekly basis. As a Member of this House, a Cheann Comhairle, I very much take the point about th…

Ordinarily, I welcome any opportunity to update the House but today I cannot do so. We are living in extraordinary times and what we ordinarily do is no longer a choice we can freely make. On this day, World Autism Day, I think in particular of those who most depend on routine in their lives now finding a way to cope with their families in what are very strange and difficult days as they seek to play their part in this national public health emergency. I think of the people who are at home and adjusting to a very d…

I thank Deputies for putting down these amendments. I see what they are trying to achieve and I want to try to give Deputies some reassurances and information in that regard. The first point is to remind ourselves what we are trying to do in this emergency legislation. What we are trying to do is remove any barriers to the rapid restoration to the register of qualified and experienced health professionals who had temporarily or permanently left the register of the Irish regulator. Whichever the register, if former …

There are regular routes through which people can apply.

There is no provision for such a right in the Bill because people in direct provision already have the right. The perception, if such exists, that someone living in direct provision is precluded from applying to register as a health professional is entirely mistaken. I am advised that none of our health regulators imposes any restrictions relating to citizenship, asylum status or immigration status. Any health professional can make an application to be registered. An application will be judged solely on the applica…

I thank Deputy Stephen Donnelly for raising this with me and indeed for meeting me on it today in terms of trying to achieve what we are all trying to achieve, namely, the maximum number of nurses who want to work in our country being able to work in our country with as little bureaucracy as possible. After talking to Deputy Stephen Donnelly earlier, I made some more inquiries, specifically in relation to nurses from the UK. A general nurse who trained in the UK has automatic qualification recognition rights in Ire…

I will liaise with Deputy Stephen Donnelly and other Opposition spokespersons in this House to arrange for a further discussion on this at our now frequent meetings on Covid-19. I am told by the NMBI that it has registered 500 nurses in recent weeks so it is genuinely doing everything it possibly can to speed up its own processes. They have told me that they are very much adequately staffed and resourced in that regard but I am sure we can and should always strive to do better. I will liaise with the Deputy on that…

There are a number of issues. I thank Deputies Naughten and Berry for their amendment. I would make the point in response that there is already a sunset clause in this legislation and we have aligned it with the emergency legislation we passed last week in terms of it being 9 November 2020, but of course a resolution of this House can at any time shorten that. That is a safeguard which I think Deputy Berry was trying to achieve. If I were to accept the amendment as drafted I think it would be inconsistent with the …

Deputy O'Reilly is entirely correct. As part of this amending legislation, we will be producing information booklets and the like for patients, particularly those in mental health services. It is important we protect their rights in this regard. I am happy to provide further briefings and meetings with the commission on this matter. It is now preparing protocols and guidance on the issue of remote consultations. It has already been implicitly provided for in the Mental Health Act. The Attorney General's advice is n…

I thank Deputies Bríd Smith, O’Reilly and Shortall for raising this issue. I agree with them and, more importantly, so do many practitioners providing services to women in crisis. We have come a long way in this House working together on these issues. We should be ensuring that we continue to protect the rights of women during this time of a global pandemic. I note that submissions were made on this Bill on the issue of termination of pregnancy. I understand and share the Deputies' concerns. In fact, I believe we a…

I thank Senators for attending this special sitting of the Seanad to debate an emergency item of public health legislation. We live in very difficult, worrying times. I detect a sense of both individual and national anxiety at the moment. People throughout the country are worried, scared and upset. We are asking grandparents not to see their grandkids on occasions and asking sociable creatures to come apart as a country - to come together as a country by staying apart. We are asking people to make extraordinary eff…

That is very much my intention and the intention of my Department, so much so that I have now taken a conscious decision such that any time the national public health emergency team makes a recommendation to me, quite frankly, to do anything, I get the recommendation by way of written letter from the Chief Medical Officer, which I then publish in full. It is my intention to continue in that regard. If we want people to follow public health advice, they need to know the rationale behind it. In this jurisdiction peop…

As the Senator rightly says, the Dáil decided yesterday that there should be a sunset clause in the legislation and I was pleased to be in a position to agree with that. It was a significant debate because a variety of amendments were tabled, some of which sought for the emergency powers to continue for 12 months, some of which did not explicitly seek a sunset clause and others which sought for the emergency powers to be in place for a short period of time. In an effort to have as much consensus as we could, we lan…

I will certainly be brief. I am learning that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has a lot of regulation-making powers. We should replicate this in other Departments. This is, however, the answer to many of the Senators' questions. If there are issues that need to be teased through, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has regulation-making powers on these payments. On the specific issue of people who are undocumented, and I have heard this a number of times, as the Minis…

I wish to come back to Senators Bacik and Devine and the House. The issue raised by Senator Bacik on the employers' top-up is being looked at as we speak. I believe that the Minister, Regina Doherty, may have said this in the time since we have been in this House. It is the Minister's intention, as the Senator has suggested, to convene a briefing for Oireachtas Members on this. I suggest that Senators email any questions they have to the Minister, Regina Doherty. The Minister will arrange a briefing, with officials…