I thank the Deputy for his kind words at the start. I really do hope we will all work together; it does not mean we always have to agree. Sorting out the healthcare system and making sure we get that care is something we all agree on. I am sure we will disagree on some of the hows and whens and so forth. I broadly agree with what the Deputy is saying. Like him, we listen to the doctors and the people who really know what they are talking about and they are saying, "face masks, face masks, face masks". They absolute…

I agree. According to our public opinion tracking research, the level is now 45%. I imagine that is variable. It is probably variable by public transport compared with retail, or by types of retail or different workplaces and different parts of the country. It will be interesting to see whether there are some areas where there is a lot of compliance. The solidarity and uptake in the measures has been extraordinary. We have got the virus in Ireland down to a really low level, one of the lowest in Europe. That is dow…

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising this and acknowledge his kind words. The Deputy has raised this issue and continues to do so, and is advocating strongly on it. It may be useful if I read out the official position which sets out the statutory framework on what is happening. Before I do so, I will answer the Deputy's questions directly. I took down three, but I think there were more. On when the Department was told of the issues, I will find out for the Deputy. This question was not included in his original Topic…

I thank the Deputy and I am with him in this regard. I wish to acknowledge the pain and suffering of the Meehan family. The situation and the case we all saw reported is heartbreaking and shocking. I cannot begin to imagine what the Meehan family have been going through over the past few months. We owe it to them and to every resident in every nursing home to ensure there is a consistently high quality of care and that when people see issues, they can raise a flag in the knowledge that those issues will be taken se…

I move: Vote 38 - Health (Revised) That a sum not exceeding €19,897,700,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2020, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Health and certain other services administered by that Office, including grants to the Health Service Executive and miscellaneous grants and that a sum not exceeding €30,000,000 be granted by way of the application for capital supply services of unspent…

Yes. On the Deputy's various points, I will get her a detailed briefing and offer her a meeting with the officials, given that different officials will handle the various questions. We could then go into the detail of the school vaccination programme. As to using the NTPF for dental procedures, a part of the programme for Government is the expansion of dental services. That is definitely an issue that has to be examined. Establishing a timeline for orthodontic services will be an important part of the HSE's resumpt…

I can do so. The main questions in that section were raised by Deputy Feighan and I acknowledge the offers of support from the various Deputies. We are in this together, we need to fix it together and I look forward to working with everybody on it. As we have Deputies living all over the country, that local intelligence will be important, be it on local primary care centres, hospitals, cardiac units or ambulance services. Having that information feeding into the Government from all over the country is an essential …

I thank the Deputy for his contribution and questions and I look forward to working with him. I agree that the structure of the Estimates is difficult to interpret. I have expressed myself on the record for many years on this. We need to find better ways of providing this information to the Oireachtas. One of the most important roles of the Oireachtas is to hold the Government to account on the money it spends on behalf of the Irish people. I struggled for years in opposition with interpreting this information. I c…

I thank Deputy Kelly for his offer of support. We worked together well on the health committee and I hope we will continue to do so. I wrote down many questions but I missed some because I was still writing. I will get the Deputy detailed responses in writing and I am happy to meet him to discuss them. I agree with the Deputy on the presentation of financial data and we have covered it. It needs to be done well. In defence of the officials, they have been trying to put this together in a time of extraordinary volat…

I thank Deputy Shortall for her kind words and look forward to working with her and everybody else. The Deputy said quite fairly that if we are serious about accelerating Sláintecare, then we will work together. To be unambiguous, we are deadly serious about and committed to Sláintecare. It is the pathway to universal healthcare, the introduction of which is ultimately our mission. We are not only committed to it but we want to accelerate it. We cannot accelerate it all at the same time but we want to go faster whe…

Yes, absolutely. The Deputy's question about the roadmap for the resumption of services is one that I have also asked. My understanding is that it will not be ready next week and may take several more weeks. It is something I will be looking into with urgency. I will get back to the Deputy when I know more. On the question of whether legislation is required in respect of foreign travel, my understanding is that there is an ongoing debate on exactly that question. The Deputy asked whether we can make Covid-related d…

I was asking the same question last week and I will get back to the Deputy on it. It is something that needs to be looked at in a lot more detail.

I thank Deputy Kenny for his comments. I am sure we will agree on many things because we are all committed to universal healthcare. That is the goal. We all want to stabilise the system, get through Covid, deal with the reduction in capacity and make sure people can get healthcare when they need it. I am sure we will disagree on plenty of the details but I think we probably agree on the mission. I do not have details regarding the specific nursing home to which the Deputy has referred. If he wants to talk to me or …

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for his kind words. The private hospital deal ends today. As of tomorrow, there is no deal in place but we are looking at a new arrangement with private providers as a short-term measure to ensure we can replace lost capacity in the public system while dealing with the pandemic. With regard to Roscommon, I will have to undertake to get back to the Deputy on the situation with regard to funding. On the issue of Erasmus students, I do not actually have an answer but it is a great question. …

I am not sure that there were so many specific questions. In response to what Deputy Flaherty said about orthodontics, it is a major issue that any child would have to wait eight years for orthodontic services. It is a failure on all our parts. Consultant surgeons and dentists tell us it is far cheaper to intervene early because in dentistry in particular early detection and treatment is critical. My view is that we are failing the unfortunate young men like the one Deputy Flaherty mentioned, as well as young women…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I share her views on Spinraza. It is a matter that I and my colleagues in the previous Dáil campaigned hard for. As the Deputy spoke about a specific family, if she provides some more details, we can then get a briefing to her. How we avoid knock-on impacts on our health system because of Covid is a profound and seminal question for healthcare this year. The impact of Covid in terms of waiting lists, the additional money that has to be spent and reduced capacity is unlike …

I acknowledge the work that has been done by Deputy Cullinane on this matter. The Deputy and I have been in the Dáil together for many years. I have heard him advocate consistently for this. I appreciate his reference also to Deputy Butler who has advocated and fought very hard on the matter too, as have all the Waterford Deputies. Indeed, we have a new Deputy in this Dáil who has also fought hard on this issue. When I was made health spokesperson for Fianna Fáil, one of the first things I was asked to do by Deputy…

I thank Deputy Collins for raising these issues. Deputy Collins and I were in the Chamber, along with others, discussing this very issue with the INMO during the past ten days. The situation our front-line workers were in was incredibly difficult, and not just front-line workers but also a lot of the management staff and non-clinical staff who were just as essential at keeping everything going and found themselves in impossible situations. The reality is there are many people in the healthcare system who have not h…

I thank the Deputy. My preference is to start from a position of transparency. We must also be mindful of issues of commercial sensitivity and of protecting individual identities in cases. We all know information has to be withheld in those cases. I am puzzled by the comparisons I have heard and I would need to see the underlying reports. It was alleged earlier on that the cost, presumably per bed night, was multiples here of what the NHS procured from private hospitals. I would need to see the detail on it. It sou…

In the first instance, the issue being raised with me by nurses and midwives is the full implementation of what was agreed after the strike last year. I joined them on the picket lines and I have no doubt the Deputy joined them on the picket lines as well. We need to look at that first and foremost. I want to be careful about how I say this. I was going to say the primary concern of the nurses and midwives I spoke to on the picket lines was not pay. I do not mean to say they were not interested in their pay but I m…