Speaking this afternoon, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health Louise O’Reilly TD has said that she has raised concerns around the shortage of PPE with the HSE.

She also issued a call for anyone with any Personnel Protective Equipment items to please donate them to the HSE as our frontline healthcare workers are continuing to experience equipment shortages.

Teachta O’Reilly said:

“The reality is there are ongoing PPE shortages in the health service for our frontline staff. Doctors, nurses, and ambulance personnel have all reached out to me over the past 24 hours to raise concerns about the lack of different PPE items as they go about working at the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.

“The current situation is becoming more and more difficult as we wait for supplies of PPE to arrive onshore with 26% of those affected by the Covid-19 virus being healthcare workers.

“Along with the arrival of imported PPE, attempts must also be made to ensure we have a reliable, domestic production line of various PPE items to protect our supply chain in case of external difficulties and guarantee our health staff have the protective equipment they need.

“However, in the here and now, frontline health workers are telling us there is a very real shortage of PPE.

“I would urge any companies or individuals who have stocks of different PPE items to please make them available to our frontline health workers.

“In particular, I would call on the pharmaceutical and food processing industries to donate any PPE equipment they can.

“We saw this week how the Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland donated 10,000 surgical masks to the staff at St. James’s Hospital in a show of great generosity and kindness.

“I would call on all others, who can, to do the same.

“We are all in this together, but our health workers are not only our last line of defence, but our only line of defence. Please, let’s help them in any way we can.”