Next week is a big one for the Government. The legislative programme will be announced and the plan for how we are going to live with Covid is also going to be announced and that is very much needed. It is important at this juncture to point out that the public is very much waiting for this and living on every word that is being said by the Government. We need to have a watershed next week whereby all the confusion, messing and internal rivalry within the Government ends. The Government and Ministers must chart a plan, rather than having some Ministers acting as commentators. The Tánaiste is not shy about coming out with statements, to the annoyance of the Taoiseach.

The Minister with responsibility for higher education is, as I have said, acting like an emeritus Minister for Health and the Minister for Health seems to be a spectator in a major game that he does not seem to be a part of. Yesterday, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine did not know testing had stopped in meat factories even though he said it was going on. All of this has to stop. I want next week to be a watershed. The Irish people need it to be a watershed because we are heading into a period that we have never faced before, given the winter. I also want the Tánaiste to cover some things in next week's plan that I think are essential.

I say this in a full and heartfelt way. We need a plan that is elderly proofed. We need to look after our elderly. We are heading into six months of winter, which is a difficult time. We need to ensure that the elderly can live their lives. We also need to make sure that people with disabilities, who are the most vulnerable, are looked after. I am sure the Tánaiste agrees. I ask him genuinely to make sure the plan reflects this. People with disabilities must get their treatments and be able to access their programmes. The elderly, in particular, must be able to get out within health guidelines and have stimulation.

We need to do something about access to sporting activities. We need to allow people to socialise in a limited way, whether that is a game of cards or whatever. The elderly have really felt the restrictions and are facing into a very long winter. We need to prioritise them. That is essential.

As my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has written to NPHET, we need a plan for the tourism industry and travel. We need to work with our European colleagues to embrace a plan for travel that will work and will give some sort of future to the tourism industry, our travel agents and everybody working in the hospitality sector. I would like that plan to be rolled out as part of this.

I know the issues relating to how we roll out testing can cause difficulties. However, the fact that we stopped testing in meat factories means that we need to show next week that we have a comprehensive testing regime that the public can support 100%. If localised lockdowns are being introduced, that has to be based on a rigorous testing regime so that we know what is going on. That also needs to be outlined.

I thank the Deputy. The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid will meet this afternoon and it will be an opportunity for us to receive an update from the Minister for Health and our public health team and consider a draft of our new plan to live with Covid over the course of the next six to nine months.

In many ways, the first chapter of dealing with this pandemic was about locking down the country, flattening the curve, saving lives, making sure we had time to build up capacity around testing and tracing to prepare our ICUs for what we thought might be a surge in demand, purchasing ventilators and personal protective equipment, PPE, learning how to shield the vulnerable and teaching the public how to protect themselves. We were largely successful in that first chapter.

This new plan is all about the second chapter, which we all know by now is a lot more difficult. It is about suppressing the virus as much as possible while at the same time keeping the country open, including our schools, childcare, regular health services, cancer screening and businesses and employment.

In response to the Deputy's question, I agree that the plan, which will be refined over the course of the next week, will need to have regard to the needs of older people. We need to make sure they are protected and shielded, but we also need to make sure that they are not socially isolated. I know how many older people feel they were socially isolated in the period in which they were asked to cocoon during the first stage of this pandemic, although I have no doubt that saved many lives and reduced morbidity.

Similarly, when it comes to people with disabilities, many of whom also have underlying physical health conditions, we need to make sure they are protected but also that they get the services they need. It is one thing to lose these services for a few weeks or months, but we cannot have a situation whereby people with disabilities get no services for the best part of a year.

The issue of travel and tourism is different. Obviously, there needs to be an economic response to support those sectors. As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I am working to see what we can do in the budget for those particular sectors that are still closed by mandate or are effectively closed as a consequence of the pandemic. While most businesses have been allowed to reopen, including pubs in the next couple of weeks, some sectors are still effectively or mandatorily closed by Government. That includes the live events and commercial art sector, representatives of which I met yesterday. It also includes travel agents, who were out on the streets yesterday.

We appreciate that the sectors which are effectively still closed will need additional help over and above what is being provided to businesses that are at least allowed to open and have a chance to trade. As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, that is something I will be working on with the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath, between now and budget day.

I thank the Tánaiste and sincerely hope he takes on board the points I have made. Another issue I would like him to take on board is the plan next week. From a joined up thinking point of view, it is important that the winter plan to be published by the Department of Health follows quickly and in tandem with the plan being published next week. Non-Covid health issues have been significantly impacted. We need a plan so that members of the public can have confidence that they will engage with our health services and the HSE on all of the different treatments they need.

I want to make two suggestions. I do not think our general practitioners can continue working in the way they are. We will have to move to a process of self-referral for Covid testing, especially in the winter months. The Tánaiste might come back to me on that. The second issue is that we cannot sustain a situation whereby front-line workers, such as occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists, are not doing their jobs and are instead part of the testing regime. GPs cannot sustain what they are doing and we need self-referral. Let us get all of the specialists who are badly needed across the health service out of testing and tracing and back to their own jobs. We should get people we can source to do that sort of work.

I thank the Deputy. The winter plan is being developed by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the HSE. I agree with the Deputy's comments that this needs to be done within the next few weeks and not when winter is already upon us. That is the plan and intention of the Government. We do not know what winter will be like. We cannot know for sure to what extent Covid will be an issue during the winter and whether the current number of cases will continue to rise or fall back. We do not know what the flu season will look like. Indications from the southern hemisphere, where it starts, and the vaccination programme we are introducing will perhaps mean that the flu season this winter will not be as bad as it was in previous winters. We cannot take that risk. A winter plan will prepare for a serious flu season and serious challenges as a consequence of Covid. On self-referral for Covid testing, it is something we would like to do an ideal world. I am not sure it is something we can do. We need to consider it seriously, but we need to bear in mind that if we allow people to self-refer for tests, there is a possibility that medical scientists in our laboratories, who are working unbelievably hard, may be overwhelmed. I appreciate the hard work that GPs are doing. They are currently our gatekeepers for testing. They are run off their feet. Moving that problem on to laboratory and medical scientists does not solve the problem. We need to make sure we have the capacity to do it.