Richard Boyd Barrett urges urgent PPE, pay and housing measures
Richard Boyd Barrett urged urgent action on the COVID-19 threat, calling for immediate support and resources for health workers, requisitioning private capacity and financial relief for affected households. He pressed the minister and the Taoiseach to secure PPE, expand testing and ICU capacity, pay student nurses, pause rents and mortgages, and protect homeless and vulnerable people.
Immediate demand for health resources
The speaker said the first priority is to support, equip and resource health workers who are on the frontline. He cited the European Centre for Disease Control as showing shortages in staff, beds, ICU capacity, PPE and lab testing and called for urgent provision of those resources.
Requisition of private capacity and supply chain action
He urged the government to take control of private lab capacity and private industrial capacity that could produce PPE, to obtain any stockpiles of PPE and to mobilise companies that can produce ventilators immediately - saying there should be no negotiations or delays.
Support and pay for essential workers
He called for financial support for incoming health staff, including immediate pay for student nurses, and for better reward and resources for essential workers - retail workers, public transport workers, power and water staff and public servants - whom he described as undervalued and underpaid.
Household relief - pause on bills, rents and mortgages
Addressing the minister and the Taoiseach, he argued for removing financial stresses on people staying at home by pressing the pause button on rents, mortgages and utility bills and instituting an amnesty for the duration of the emergency. He welcomed the government’s increase of the 203 payment to 350 but said more must be done for pensioners, people with disabilities and those who lost work earlier.
Housing for the vulnerable and public-health protections
He called for immediate requisition of empty apartment blocks, hotels or other spaces to prevent overcrowding and protect homeless people, people with disabilities and those in crowded accommodation. He framed these measures as necessary to reduce transmission and protect the capacity of the health service.
Solidarity and protecting what matters most
Throughout the speech he urged society to protect health services and vulnerable people so the country can face COVID-19 with the least possible tragedy and calamity, emphasising collective action and immediate government intervention on PPE, testing, pay and housing.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I think we all understand we're facing an unprecedented threat to public health and to our society and I think our first priority has to be to do everything we can to avert the tragedy and calamity that we see unfolding in Italy which understandably is striking fear into the hearts of many in this country and across the world and as others have done I want to extend my condolences to everybody who's lost loved ones whether it's in this country or in Italy or anywhere else in the world and we have to do everything we can to minimise that tragedy and protect people against the threat of COVID-19 and the first thing that has to be done to do that is to support, equip and resource our health workers who are the frontline who are putting themselves on the line to protect our health and as the European centre for disease control clearly underlines we have not done that we don't have enough staff we don't have enough beds we don't have enough ICU capacity we don't have enough personal protective equipment we don't have enough lab testing capacity so we need now urgently to provide those resources to support those health workers and all those who in the droves are volunteering the heroes who are now volunteering to build up the capacity that we had failed to provide and the support and resources we had failed to provide for health workers and for health services in this country and our particular plea which we have put over the last few weeks is given that we don't have that capacity we have to financially and in every other way support the health workers who are coming into the health system pay the student nurses and immediately and without hesitation take into control private lab capacity private industrial capacity that could be used to produce PPE to get hold of any stockpiles of PPE so it can be provided to our health workers who are currently rationing it in the hospitals that's the situation and I would urge the government to do that the companies that can produce ventilators there should be no negotiations no discussions we need that productive capacity to produce that equipment we need to support our essential workers and reward them retail workers public transport workers power workers water workers public servants who are putting themselves on the line need to be supported and resourced and I hope we learn forever the importance of these people who have often been very undervalued and underpaid in our society we need to support everybody the millions of people who now through their actions of staying at home and social distancing are protecting our public health and protecting the ability of our health service to cope with the surges that are coming we need to support them and while I welcome the government's change of heart to increase the 203 payment to 350 we must remove all stresses burdens anxieties and worries from the shoulders from the shoulders of people who have lost job lost income and who are at home and contributing to the public health effort and I would say this to the minister and to the tea shop we need to press the pause button until we are through this emergency on rents on mortgages on utility bills we need an amnesty for the duration of this emergency so those pressures are not coming down on the shoulders of people who through their actions are contributing to protecting us from the to the community we need to help us all and finally Count Corlea we need to protect the vulnerable we need to protect the homeless people with disabilities people living in overcrowded conditions all the public health advice says these things are bad and we can our ability to prevent the transmission of viruses like this so we need any empty apartment blocks or hotels or spaces that could be used to ensure that people are not coming out to be safe in the not living in overcrowded conditions, immediately requisitioned and made available to people so they are not living in those conditions. Many are asking, if the Government have now recognised that 203 is not enough for workers who were laid off to live on, is it enough for our pensioners? Is it enough for those with disabilities? Is it enough for those who happened to lose their jobs six months or a year ago who are looking for work? And the answer is no. So I hope we will learn these lessons. Who is essential? Protecting our health services and protecting the vulnerable so that we as a society can come together to face the threat of COVID-19 and come through it with the least possible tragedy and calamity.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
