This week, it has been agreed that the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, is to be awarded the freedom of the city of Dublin, an honour he deserves. Together with the now Tánaiste and the now Minister with responsibility for further and higher education, he was the steady hand we needed as we navigated our way through the pandemic, and the nation drew reassurance from his calm demeanour during his daily briefings.

The time is now right to recognise also the work of all front-line health workers. Many of our doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants placed themselves at risk to go to work every day to keep us safe and to care for those who were seriously ill. Many of them made significant personal sacrifices during this time, including moving out of their homes and away from their families in some cases to keep them safe, while continuing to provide care, not only for those with Covid-19 but also for others who needed healthcare during uncertain times. These healthcare workers have worked long hours in extremely difficult circumstances and we must now stop and recognise the work they have done on behalf of us all. These people have been selfless and our country owes them a great debt of gratitude. If it is not possible to reward them with pay increases or some form of bonus system, at a very minimum we should offer them additional paid leave, that is, time to spend with their families, with whom they may have sacrificed precious family time, or time out to recover from the physical and emotional tiredness they are undoubtedly feeling.

Would the Taoiseach agree that now is the time for us to come together as a country and offer our healthcare workers more than a round of applause by acknowledging their work and sacrifices?

I thank the Deputy for his question and presentation. I agree with him, particularly on the contribution that front-line health service staff and those in the background have made to the fight against Covid-19, effectively contributing to the suppression of the virus for now and to a very low level of community transmission. I also share the Deputy's admiration for the work of Dr. Tony Holohan, the Chief Medical Officer, and the calm leadership he gave. We all wish him the very best at this time, as we do to the previous Taoiseach and the previous Minister for Health.

Without question, healthcare workers, especially in the acute hospital setting in the early phase of Covid-19, put themselves at risk for the betterment of their fellow citizens. We saw in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme the intensity of that commitment and of that contribution and the considerable emotional trauma that went with it in the additional duties that nursing staff and doctors had to take on to communicate with families who could not be near their loved ones. It also illustrates the value of a strong and good-quality public service, which is something we should never underestimate in this country. In a time of crisis, it is the State, fundamentally, that intervenes through the quality and expertise of its public service.

In the first instance, that is why the Government has committed to honouring, notwithstanding the enormous financial difficulties the State will be in, the pay agreements that will fall due in the autumn. It is to recognise the contribution of the public service in general to helping the country come through Covid-19 and it also applies to An Garda Síochána and other front-line workers, as well as those in retail and so on who also came to the front line to help people.

The Government will examine the Deputy's suggestion and proposal. I cannot make commitments here today but I will discuss it with others. I am conscious of the point the Deputy raised and the importance of recognition of people who went to exceptional lengths to help people on an individual basis and, by so doing, helped the country at large to get through this crisis.

One way in which we can help to relieve pressure on our front-line workers is by eliminating trolleys in our hospitals. In the past month, patients and trolleys are something we have again started to see within our hospitals throughout the country. We need to take action now to address the bed crisis. That is the very minimum we owe to front-line healthcare staff throughout Ireland.

Take, for example, Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. Since the start of June, on average eight patients have been on trolleys every single day. A total of 10% of the beds of the hospital have been lost as a direct result of the measures to reduce the risk of infection from Covid-19. We need to see direct and immediate action taken to address this problem. Would the Taoiseach not agree that our healthcare workers have been under enough pressure for the past four months from a virus we could not control? Let us not add to that. Let us take action now on something we can control.

Portiuncula Hospital has had a net reduction of about eight beds because, as the Deputy said, of the impact of Covid-19 and the desire to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the hospital, and to have sufficient isolation facilities for suspected cases and any particular case the hospital has of a patient with Covid. The Deputy is correct that the number of presentations at emergency departments is back more or less to where it was prior to Covid. It has been steadily increasing in all acute hospitals.

That poses significant challenges over the coming months because, on the one hand, we want to resume services, and non-Covid services in particular, as best we can. Clearly, however, living with Covid and with Covid ever present, we will have to develop innovative approaches to make sure we keep emergency department attendances much lower than would have been acceptable in previous times. Where hospitals' capacity was at 95% prior to Covid, which is too high in any event in emergency departments in terms of overcrowding, the ideal figure will be reduced to 80% to facilitate the management of any spike in numbers or surge in that regard.

We are very conscious of that. The HSE is developing a plan — it should be published by the end of the month — in regard to its strategy on resuming services and dealing with the crunch issue of overcrowding, particularly in the emergency departments.