Briefing on the government's response to COVID-19 - Thursday 23 April 2020

Delivered by Elizabeth Canavan, Assistant Secretary General, Department of the Taoiseach

Good Morning.

I want to begin today by reminding everyone of the public health advice which we know

is helping us to slow the spread of the virus:

• wash hands regularly and thoroughly
• use good cough and sneeze etiquette
• observe social distancing measures
• stay at home

We are now in our eighth week since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Ireland. There is no treatment for COVID-19, there is currently no vaccine and we must continue to do what we can to slow its spread and to protect our vulnerable population. There is no room for complacency.

On Monday I reminded everyone that Emergency Departments are open 24/7 for people who are seriously ill or injured and if their life is at risk. Following on from that I would like to remind everyone of the continued need for the lifesaving supply of blood for transfusions. The Irish Blood Transfusion Board are implementing social distancing at their clinics to maintain that supply. 3,000 blood donations are needed every week to meet the demand for the daily treatment of patients in our hospitals. If you are normally a blood donor, and you’re not in the cocooned group, you should check out your local clinic to see if you can be facilitated.

Over 48,100 employers are now registered with Revenue for the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Today (23 April), Revenue has generated further payments to employers under the scheme of €53.4 million.

These payments will be in the bank accounts of the majority of the respective employers tomorrow Friday (24 April).

The cumulative value of payments made to employers under the scheme is now over €430 million.

The Community Call Fora, run by the local authorities, continue to provide help and support to those in need in communities around the country. Yesterday, they received approximately 1,000 calls nationally and made approximately 400 follow-up calls to people who contacted them.

Nationally, since 31 March, the Community Call Fora have received approximately 20,500 calls and have made over 9,000 follow-up calls.

I know I say this every day, but it really is important that we reach out to everyone in our community. Community call is our safety net for anyone who needs support who might not have a network or family nearby to help. Please don’t be afraid to call even if you only have a simple request. Similarly, if you are worried that someone in your community might be isolated, please reach out to your local forum, so we can get someone locally to reach out to them.

A dedicated community call helpline is operational in every Local Authority area. You can find your local helpline number here.

The fora helplines are partnering with ALONE. If someone needs information, they can call ALONE’s national phoneline on 0818 222 024.

In recent weeks our resilience has been demonstrated every day in our ability to make sacrifices to slow the spread of this virus and to protect each other. Reflecting on this resilience, the National Museum of Ireland has put together an online exhibition designed to demonstrate and celebrate the fact that the Irish have always been a resilient people.

From everyday objects that reflect our resilience in the face of toil and hardship to the instruments and tools that capture the resilience of our enduring culture, the objects displayed in this exhibition tell a story of endurance and hope that will surely be a welcome reminder to us all at this time.

Anyone interested in seeing this fascinating exhibition can find it here.

Tonight, we also see the first event of the ‘Courage’ cultural programme launched on Tuesday.

The programme consists of a series of live concerts interspersed with musical footage from the archives of Other Voices, to run over a four week period.

The event is being run in association with Intel and will air on Other Voices’ YouTube channel, Facebook Live and on RTE.ie. The programme will also be televised on RTÉ 2 from 7 May every Thursday at 11.30pm.

The online programme will feature live performances each Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm. Live performances will take place in Whelan’s and the National Gallery of Ireland.

All live performances will comply with public health guidance.

An Post and Ireland’s booksellers have joined forces to help unite the country around books and reading during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With current restrictions driving customer demand for reading material and the challenges facing independent booksellers, An Post and the Irish Booksellers Association worked together on a solution.

As you know, many booksellers are now offering an online service including some who didn’t have that option before.

An Post is making a special posting rate of just €2.95 per package available to independent booksellers for posting book packages up to 10kg across Ireland.

Bookshops can avail of the offer by simply entering a special promo code on An Post’s online shop at anpost.com, or by using a special barcode at their local post office.

During this unprecedented time, Tusla has put a range of operational measures in place to ensure the delivery of essential services across key areas including child protection, children in care, and domestic, sexual and gender based violence services.

As with all services, COVID-19 poses challenges for child protection and welfare services. Tusla recognises the importance of family contact and access for children in care and their families and equally recognises the need to balance this with public health concerns. Every case is considered on an individual basis and staff around the country are working to ensure that children receive the necessary services.

Children continue to be visited at home, and online mediums are also being used to support contact. Staff have been provided with detailed guidance in relation to home visits and access provision and this detailed guidance is available on Tusla.ie.

Also, a reminder that Tusla’s child protection and welfare teams are here, and are working to keep children as safe as possible in every community around the country.

Anyone with a concern about the wellbeing or safety of a child during this time should contact the local duty social work office where the child lives. Details are available here.

I would like to bring to the attention of those who sat the Health Professions Admission Test in February of this year that a decision has been taken to defer this year’s results until after the Leaving Certificate examinations are complete, bringing them in line with previous years.

The HPAT is an admissions test used to assist with the selection of students into medicine and health professions degree programs.

Results were due to be released in late June. The new date for the results will be confirmed at a later stage.

The government is strongly committed to supporting the provision of childcare for essential healthcare workers, subject to the public health advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

Two measures have been agreed by Government.

The first measure relates to circumstances where one parent/guardian/partner is an essential health care worker. In this case, the other parent/guardian/partner will be supported by their public sector employer to remain at home to care for the children so as to ensure that the essential health care worker is able to go to work.

In the first instance, flexible working arrangements will be put in place for the other parent/ guardian/partner such as working from home or working adjusted hours/ shifts. Though not anticipated, in the event that flexible arrangements do not allow the “essential health worker” to attend work it will be dealt with on a case by case basis. NPHET have indicated that there is no public health rationale to suggest this measure cannot be implemented as soon as practical.

The second measure relates to the provision of childcare in workers’ homes. NPHET has indicated that this will be reviewed as a candidate measure by NPHET as part of its consideration of a phased reduction of social distancing guidelines which are already in place.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has carried out extensive work on the details of a service for essential healthcare workers, which will form the basis for providing this service. The department is working to finalise the details of the scheme that could be implemented as soon as public health guidance allows.

The Ombudsman has welcomed the sustained improvements to the Direct Provision system in response to COVID-19. The Department of Justice and Equality has reduced the numbers of persons in rooms across the entire Direct Provision system to ensure that there are now no more than three single persons in any room. They intend to continue this policy when this crisis is over.

Also, as part of the response to the current crisis, new accommodation has been opened and over 600 residents have been relocated to support social distancing and cocooning measures for the most vulnerable.

The Department of Justice and Equality acknowledge that there is more to do, including a reduction in the number of residents in emergency accommodation and the length of time residents spend there. They are working with Local Authorities and the City and County Managers Association to assist residents with the transition to mainstream accommodation.

Complaints from residents are taken very seriously and any resident with issues or concerns are encouraged to contact the Department of Justice or the Ombudsman’s office directly.

We know that anecdotal evidence had been circulating this week in relation to an increase in the numbers of people on the roads.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) operates a comprehensive network of traffic counters on national roads right across the country. After the announcement of the travel restrictions on the 27th March, there was a reduction in traffic volumes across the national road network of 65/70% compared to the corresponding dates in 2019. At weekends that reduction was greater again at about 87%.

Earlier this week TII undertook an analysis of traffic figures for this week and the volumes are in line with previous weeks since the restrictions were introduced. Spot checks on roads show no noticeable increase, most are within 5% of average weekday volumes under the current restrictions. But it is something we are continuing to monitor along with An Garda Siochana reports.

This news is highly encouraging as it re-enforces the fact that the vast majority of people are continuing to observe the essential public health advice for which we are grateful and of course, we need to keep it going. As I have said many times before in recent weeks, we are all in this together.

Thank you.