Cabinet to fast-track law to deal with potential oil emergency, as well as HSE winter plan

Eamon Ryan will seek approval to push through urgent energy security law while Stephen Donnelly will unveil HSE's winter plan

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan will seek priority for the Oil Emergency Contingency and Transfer of Renewable Transport Fuels Functions Bill 2022. File picture: Brian Lawless

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan is seeking Cabinet approval to fast-track new laws, to respond to a potential severe or prolonged oil emergency.

Mr Ryan will bring a memo seeking Government approval for the priority drafting of the Oil Emergency Contingency and Transfer of Renewable Transport Fuels Functions Bill 2022.

The main purpose of the bill is to strengthen the Government’s ability to respond to a potential severe or prolonged oil emergency, particularly in the context of the current oil markets and rising energy costs.

While Ireland currently has an adequate oil reserve and a disruption to supply is unlikely, the Government is aware of the impact it would have on households and businesses and is committed to ensuring the risk is minimised and adequately prepared for.

The Green Party leader is also bringing details to Cabinet of 30 walking and cycling pathfinder projects under the Department of Transport’s National Sustainable Mobility policy.

It comes after Mr Ryan sent out a directive to local authorities to come up with transformative public transport and active travel projects which could be delivered by 2025.

The rapid implementation of the sustainable mobility policy is critical to meeting Ireland’s 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. 

HSE winter plan 

Meanwhile, the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, is to bring details of the HSE’s winter plan to Cabinet, which will be published this afternoon.

For the first time, at the request of Mr Donnelly, the plan contains bespoke, site-level plans.

These are to address local needs identified by clinicians, managers, hospital, and community staff.

Under the €168m plan, hundreds of additional staff will be taken on, including the aim of recruiting an extra 51 emergency department consultants.

Access to diagnostic testing such as MRIs will be extended, to allow such tests to be carried out in the evenings and at weekends so that patients do not need to spend long periods in hospitals awaiting tests and results.

Mr Donnelly requested an “all-hands-on-deck’” approach to this coming winter, and so the plan addresses providing additional capacity in public hospitals, but also making as much use as possible of the private system.

As part of this, emergency department-specific health and social care professional roles are to be sanctioned, and there will be deployment of more advanced nurse practitioners into emergency departments.

The HSE has been asked to develop a three-year unscheduled care improvement plan to reform the delivery of unscheduled care and provide a permanent solution to ED overcrowding.

A Covid strategic plan will be developed in tandem with the winter plan.