If the Deputy is willing to share his note then I will be delighted to take a look. There is no better insight that I get, no more than the Deputy, than meeting clinicians, healthcare providers, social care providers, patients and their families and seeing what is going on. An awful lot is working and people have done incredible work but, as the Deputy has quite rightly said, more is needed. While we have seen record recruitment into the HSE this year and last year, and record acute beds, the community care side of…

I will. We have put in a vast amount of funding to significantly increase the community-based workforce and therapeutics. It has proven very difficult. There is a lot that we are doing, working with the HSE, to see what more we can do to train up, attract and retain people to work in community care.

Why did the Deputy not do that when he was Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy?

Why did the Deputy not do it?

Why did the Deputy not do it then instead of shouting down others now?

I thank the Deputy for the question. Many people look at this and wonder if it is consistent. With the EU Covid-19 certificate we have a recognised recovery period of six months and as the Deputy has said, we have recent advice from HIQA that has been endorsed by National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, that the presumptive period is nine months. It is a reasonable question as to why we do not adjust the Covid-19 certificate accordingly. The EU digital Covid-19 certificate regulation creates a framework for th…

I am telling the Deputy the standard is set at an EU level. HIQA has made its recommendations and they have been endorsed by NPHET but the EU regulation sets the six-month period. I am advised the EU is not actively considering reviewing that six-month period at this time.

To be clear, the Deputy's question is "to ask the Minister for Health his plans to extend the validity of the digital Covid-19 certificate to nine months" and I am answering that directly. I am saying the digital Covid-19 certificate is based on an EU-set regulation.

That is right. It is not being considered at an EU level at this point. Of course I will ask the Department to provide the Deputy with a detailed briefing on the EU regulation concerned.

It is no problem at all. The advice I have is from the Department, which engages with the EU.

Sure.

I am very pleased to inform the Deputy that a number of primary care centre developments are being progressed in County Clare. In addition to the existing primary care centre in Westbury, the site at Station Road, Ennis, is under construction and is expected to be operational by mid-summer 2022. The HSE is also continuing to work with a developer on another centre in Ennis on the Tulla Road and is awaiting the outcome of a planning matter currently with An Bord Pleanála. A further project in Ennistymon is progressi…

I do. Station Road in Ennis is under construction and planning permission has been sought to increase the floor area of the building to provide for additional services. A decision is awaited from An Bord Pleanála on this additional application. Subject to the decision, which we all hope will be in the affirmative while we obviously fully respect the independence of the process, the timeframe for completion of the additional floor space can then be established. In other words, we will not know until we get a ruling …

With Ennistymon, a number of price proposals have been received and the HSE's estates division is engaging with the promoter of the top-ranked proposal. It is hoped that a firm proposal to meet HSE requirements can be agreed and progressed. On Kilrush, a review of the current facilities and the overall accommodation requirements for the area is due to be undertaken. We will seek a more detailed update as it comes in. In Sixmilebridge, an issue with the sale of the land at Ashview Drive halted the development. The H…

I am acutely aware of the scale of the challenge facing our emergency departments across the country this winter and the extra demands Covid is placing on them. Our front-line staff are exhausted from 20 months of dealing with Covid yet continue to deliver a high standard of care to all. I wish to thank them and acknowledge the distress that overcrowded emergency departments cause to patients, their families and the incredible front-line staff who have to work in those difficult conditions. UHL of course has one of…

I thank the Deputy. As he rightly acknowledges, very substantial additional capacity has been added in UHL but as he also rightly says, still more is required. We are still looking at patients waiting on trolleys at a level we must move away from. In 2017 a new €24 million emergency department opened. Since the start of last year, 132 additional beds have been provided, which is a very significant number. As the Deputy referenced, 98 of those beds are in recent developments. On top of that, there is full planning p…

I thank Deputy Griffin. He was not right but I must take advice from the Acting Chairman on this. The Deputy's question is a fundamentally different one. The question posed is about UHL. The Deputy is asking a completely different question. It is a very valid one about UHK and I would like to answer but it is not supplemental to this question. I can send him a detailed note. He and I have obviously discussed this. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and I are in regular communication on this. As the Deputy wi…

-----and fewer patients get seen. With the Acting Chairman's indulgence-----

-----I do not know if it is possible-----

-----to get 60 seconds to respond to the Deputy.