Shingles Vaccination Programme: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-05 ============================================================ Joe Conway (IND), Cultural and Educational Panel People will ask what is the purpose of the Seanad, and this is a wonderful example of the efficacy of the House, that people who are lowly backbenchers like myself can work with the Government Senators. It was a very enlightened approach by the Government and I am immensely thankful to Government and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, because I know she has an almost impossible job to do, as does the Minister of State. I am in great admiration of her can-do attitude in her work and I have no doubt her efforts will be crowned with success. To Senators Costello and Ahearn and all the other Government Senators, the constancy of their support has been very gratifying for me and my colleagues in the Seanad Independent Group. I also thank the civic group, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party and all the people who co-signed the motion. It was very uplifting to get that level of support when you are putting down a Private Members' motion. There are other people, of course. Last week, when I was trying to work through the mechanics of the Private Members' motion - because I still have a big L plate up here - the support I got from Martin Hughes and Carmel Considine, as well as the level of support and inclusiveness in this House, was mind-blowing. The Minister of State also contributed to that today in coming here to make her replies. Often, we have been told that when rising to reply, you should contain a couple of punchy things to say back at Ministers because you know you are the last person on his or her feet, so nobody can come back at you. I want to indicate a couple of things. I thank Active Retirement Ireland, my PA, Niamh, who did huge work on this and of course, my wife Sandra, for being here today. Pharma companies are sometimes portrayed as being venal and out for profit but I have to say the inclusive and supportive way GlaxoSmithKline helped me with the figures and perspectives on this was immense. I also thank Ross Mac Mathúna and Marguerite - who was in here last week - from the bottom of my heart. They mentioned that someone they knew had done a heat map on the uptake of the private shingles vaccination and not surprisingly, the deep red areas were in places like Cork city south, the Dunmore Road area of Waterford city and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in greater Dublin, to mention a few. The pale yellows and white areas were predominantly in rural Ireland and areas with high levels of social housing. That tells its own poignant story about the accessibility to the shingles vaccinations. I have no doubt the people who have co-signed the motion will move might and main. This is naked politics but I know Active Retirement Ireland, its 850,000 members and the people who co-signed this motion want to put this issue front and centre in the two by-elections coming up in Gaillimh Thiar and Dublin Central. Those people - the over 65s - are voters, as I reminded the Minister of State when she was here at the outset. Their voice will carry sway. I am glad this House has taken the opportunity to say there is not the same trenchant opposition to this proposal as there was a while back and that people are viewing this positively. People say in politics you should hasten slowly but the Government and all of us should drive on resolutely on this issue. I would not be one to tell the Minister of State her own business but it is not just important to do the right thing but also, very obviously, to be seen to be doing the right thing. There is no point in bringing in progressive initiatives like this if you are not shouting it from the rooftops. Sin mo cheannsa. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for, as always, the very inclusive way she conducts her debates and for all the people who spoke in support of the motion. If it got a little personal and emotional at one stage, my apologies but sin an rud. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-05