On Monday evening, Professor Philip Nolan said there had been indications in the previous ten days of accelerated progress in suppressing the virus. This resulted in a collective sigh of relief across the country and, in particular, among front-line healthcare workers. These people are mentally and physically exhausted as a result of the third wave of Covid-19 infection, which far exceeded the previous waves in hospitalisations and deaths. Now that the third wave is being suppressed, we must consider two actions for all front-line healthcare staff.

First, we must provide staff with time off because exhausted healthcare staff are a recipe for mistakes. We must recognise that this time off is imperative for their health. Second, we must give proper recognition to staff at the front line in the battle against Covid-19. For example, the Scottish Government is paying every NHS worker a bonus of £500. When I raised this with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, last month, he stated that the Taoiseach noted on 10 February that the Government would respond to the extraordinary efforts of front-line healthcare workers once the pandemic is behind us. All front-line workers, including those in other essential services, should receive an acknowledgement of their work throughout the pandemic from their employers. In particular, I believe that now is the right time for the Government to recognise the work of all front-line healthcare workers. Many doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, cleaners, porters and others place themselves at risk by going to work every day to keep us safe and to care for those who are seriously ill. These healthcare workers have worked long hours in extremely difficult circumstances through three waves of this pandemic. They have been selfless and the country owes them a debt of gratitude.

On Leaders' Questions last July, I said to the Taoiseach that if it was not possible to reward healthcare workers with pay increases or some form of bonus system, the minimum we should offer them is additional paid leave. It would be time to spend with their families, with whom they may have sacrificed precious family time, or time to recover from the physical and emotional tiredness they undoubtedly must be feeling. The Taoiseach was generous in his response stating:

The Government will examine the Deputy's suggestion and proposal. ... 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.

In the spirit of the Taoiseach's response last July, I sincerely ask him not to postpone this much-needed recognition until the end of the pandemic, but instead to move on the need for the recognition of healthcare workers now.

I thank the Deputy for raising an important and worthy issue. I too acknowledge the extraordinary work done by front-line workers, in particular, in the battle against the pandemic. That was vividly illustrated in a recent RTÉ programme through the stories and journeys that both patients and front-line healthcare workers went through in the latest wave of the pandemic, which was a severe wave that impacted very significantly on health, the severity of illness and mortality. We are very mindful of that, and the Government intends to recognise the front-line healthcare workers in respect of the extraordinary contribution and commitment they have made to the fight against the pandemic.

The precise mechanisms and manner in which this will be determined will have to be worked out in consultation with the social partners, while also bearing in mind some key workers in the private sector who have made an outstanding contribution as well, particularly in periods of severe lockdown. We want to do this in a non-divisive way and to consult the partners, perhaps through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, to discuss this further and get it right. I acknowledge the point the Deputy is making and the Government is on the record as saying that this is something it intends to do. We want to acknowledge the very strong contribution that has been made, particularly by front-line healthcare workers.

I caution that we are by no means out of this pandemic. Already, I detect that people are getting a sense that because the numbers are coming down, we are somehow emerging from it immediately or something similar. The hospital numbers are still higher than they were at the peak of the second wave. The variant is the big problem. Community transmission is still at between 11% and 15%, which is high. Close contacts and the spread of the disease are much more prevalent now. It is more transmissible because of the presence of the B117 variant. We cannot lose sight of that because if we let this go, the virus will continue. We must be very careful. We are making very good progress against the pandemic in terms of the strategy of getting the numbers down, especially the hospital numbers. They are coming down. The number in intensive care units, ICU, is coming down, as are case numbers. Remarkably, the vaccination impact has been extraordinary in hospital and nursing home settings, but we must stick with it, especially in the coming weeks, to get the numbers further down.

The Taoiseach is correct that we are not out of the woods yet and that we have to stick with it, but we also need to plan for post-Covid times. While we all hope that the current wave of infection that is now dissipating will be the last, we also know that it will take years for the country, and the health service in particular, to recover. Waiting lists are, quite understandably, at record levels. We need practical measures to relieve pressure on elective procedures and on accessing tests and diagnoses quicker.

Now is our opportunity to reconfigure our health service. This must be done using Sláintecare as the template and by directly engaging with staff at the front line who know what the problems are and how to relieve them. Simple measures can be taken such as replacing clapped out CT scanners in the likes of Portiuncula University Hospital and other diagnostic machines across the State at a time when we have an underspend within our capital investment programme, or by providing expanded sterilisation facilities in order that we can utilise the fully staffed surgical theatres such as those at Roscommon University Hospital. These simple steps can make a real difference to our waiting lists.

We should also acknowledge that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has secured with the social partners a public service agreement in the past few weeks that further reflects our acknowledgement of those working in the public service and the commitments that have been made. Very significant resources have been made available to the health service by the Government in the budget. Up to 16,000 additional staff are now targeted for recruitment over the pre-pandemic levels to embed reforms in our health service that would outlast the pandemic and in order that the lessons learned in our health service during the pandemic will be sustained in the time ahead. The deal with the private hospitals, for example, will continue to make sure that we can catch up on non-Covid care with regard to diagnostics, procedures and operations that had been affected negatively as a result of the pandemic itself. Embedding and implementing reform across the health system, and ensuring it aligns with the Sláintecare programme, is key and is provided for in what has been an unprecedented budgetary allocation, for Covid-related issues and for non-Covid issues.