Meeting in the historic chamber to practise social distancing still risks the spread of infection

The advisory expert panel has served the government well. Let it continue to do its job without being handicapped by outside political skulduggery

We can fix this issue, and seize the rare opportunity to use private hospitals to reduce waiting lists

Covid-19 has temporarily given us a single-tier health system – and we will never take our health service for granted again

A 20% daily growth rate in the virus would mean 60,000 cases in four weeks whereas a 30% rate would mean 570,000. The situation is as stark as it gets

Our next Taoiseach, whoever he or she is, will have to articulate a new national healthcare vision. That means joined-up policies and abandoning the idea that Sláintecare is a workable plan

The HSE has a funding crisis. Unless it is solved, the Sláintecare health reform programme cannot be implemented

Anti-abortion activists have no right to pose a threat to women seeking medical care, and that is what their protests outside maternity hospitals and GP surgeries are intended to do

The Minister for Health engaged in an ill-informed and ill-advised exercise in finger-pointing, instead of taking responsibility for his government‘s failure to solve the trolley crisis

Paramedics and advanced paramedics are vital for our emergency services, yet paramedics are not defined as health care professionals or subject to regulation

The government’s response to the problems in emergency departments is well-rehearsed and utterly ineffective. The steps needed to ease the pressure are obvious. To do anything less is to turn overcrowding into official policy

The narrative that Ireland is an excessively high spender on health should be challenged

There is huge frustration in government that funds spent on health do not readily translate into positive, measurable impact, unlike voter-friendly tax cuts

Freed from fighting fires over operational matters, those in charge could take the time to step back and look at the big picture – to the benefit of us all

Not only does the government fail to let the health service plan ahead or budget for vital services, it cynically lets the HSE take the blame for any shortfalls

The first step to a better service is ending the brain drain that results in hundreds of gifted doctors leaving for higher-paid jobs elsewhere

Under-pressure GPs have become soft targets for venture capitalists who offer to take the ownership burden off their shoulders in the interest of profit

After eight years of governance vandalism, the new HSE board urgently needs to call a halt to Fine Gael’s merry dance

A tendency to defer to the Catholic Church held back our social progress in the past. We must be alert to the danger of putting figures in authority, such as developers, bankers or the PAC, on a pedestal now

The Waterford mortuary saga shows the chronic shortage of capital funding for the health service