It is no secret that we are in the midst of another wave of Covid-19.

The peak of that wave is some still distance away. It is also no secret that our hospital system is under severe strain and pressure at the moment. That is being felt by our front-line healthcare professionals, including our doctors, nurses, paramedics, healthcare assistants and everybody else involved. They have been fighting this virus for almost two years now. They are completely exhausted, burned out and flat to the mat. They are used to making life-and-death decisions about their patients but this is the first time that many of them are making life-and-death decisions about themselves. Even showing up for a shift in a hospital is exposing them to significant danger, suffering and distress.

There was a lot of talk over the summer about providing a recognition package to our front-line healthcare workers for the extra stress they are under but that talk has dissipated since. There was, for instance, mention of a small ex gratia payment and additional leave to assist in their recovery. There was even talk of an additional bank holiday to recognise the contribution of essential workers across the country and wider society. The morale of healthcare workers is in their boots and they could do with a lift or a boost. Can the Taoiseach give this House any update on that process? When are we going to get a recognition package for our front-line healthcare workers, something other than just a round of applause?

I thank the Deputy for his question. I acknowledge what he has said and agree with it. We owe an awful lot to the front-line healthcare staff for their management of the pandemic. The most important thing people can do now to help our acute services and those who work in them is to get vaccinated if they have not done so. I urge people, without judgment, to consider getting vaccinated. The good news is that up to 1,500 people are now turning up daily for their first vaccination, which shows the campaigns are beginning to penetrate and people are beginning to respond. That is important. There is evidence that some people have missed their dates for the booster vaccination. I urge people who are eligible for the booster and get a date for its administration to get it in a timely manner.

There have been discussions on the recognition of healthcare workers at the Labour Employer Economic Forum, which involves trade unions, including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and IBEC. We are considering the best and most effective way we can recognise workers and their contribution during the pandemic, specifically front-line healthcare workers who have been on the front line and have faced the gravity and the real impact of the coronavirus on people in hospital wards and intensive care units. It has meant enormous trauma for many people working on the front line. I would like to bring that consideration to a conclusion as soon as possible. Some more consideration is being given at Government level in respect of the measures we will take. We accept there is a need to recognise the contribution that has been made.

We received a presentation from the HSE yesterday evening. The Deputy is correct in his analysis about the peak of this wave of the pandemic. The original model suggested infection would peak in the third or fourth week of November. The suggestion now is that the peak will be later, in December. There is uncertainty around all of these predictions and modelling, as there must be. It will never be exactly precise. The impact is being felt by healthcare workers right now. We must do everything we possibly can to alleviate that pressure between now and the end of the year. The measures we have decided to take today will help in that regard but, collectively, we must reduce our socialisation and the amount of time we congregate. We must take up the vaccination when we are offered it. All of that will help to reduce the pressures on our hospital system. The presentation we received from the HSE yesterday evening was quite grim in respect of the challenges ahead and the pressures on the hospital system right now because unlike the first and second waves of the pandemic when we closed everything down, we have not done that on this occasion. There will be pressure to focus on the Covid-19 patients as the various scenarios that have been modelled play out.

I agree with the Taoiseach's views on vaccination and boosters, but my question is on whether we are likely to have a decision this side of Christmas on a recognition package for our front-line professional healthcare workers.

The second group of people I would not like to see ignored or forgotten about comprises the voluntary, unpaid workers who are working in testing and vaccination centres all around the country. The Tánaiste mentioned consideration being given to a small honorarium as a small token of appreciation, but there was also talk of a signed and framed certificate from an tUachtarán and perhaps an invitation to visit Leinster House or Áras an Uachtaráin for the volunteers and their families. I would be grateful to hear the Taoiseach's thoughts on that.

That is a very good suggestion. We thank the Deputy for volunteering for the vaccination programme early on. Others in the House also volunteered in various capacities to help out in their local communities. The voluntary, unpaid workers at the vaccination centres played a very significant role. They were partly responsible for creating the ethos of a community-based response to this one-in-100-year event. We have to keep reminding ourselves that this is a pandemic of a kind that has not been experienced since the early part of last century. There are many uncertainties attached to it. As a country, we must work collectively on it. As an Oireachtas, we must do so too.