Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2021-03-31
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

In the last 24 hours, the Government has changed from a risk-based vaccine distribution system to an age-based vaccine distribution system. Last week it said that the vaccination system was based on public health advice. This week it has stated that it is based on public health advice, even though they are mutually exclusive systems.
Now, a 46-year-old who is working remotely will be vaccinated on the same day as an SNA who is working with children with special needs, as a garda who is arresting people in a riot, as a carer on whom a person depends completely and as a teacher.
It is important to be honest here. The reason is because the system that was in place previously was based on GP and consultant lists. As a result, many people were slipping through the cracks. There are people with stage 4 cancer who have been bounced back and forth from GPs to consultants and have been unable to get the vaccine.
The reason that lists were used is because there is no central patient database in the country. Even though the Government had six months to organise a central database, the Government did not get it together. It is incredible to hear. Last week, the Government said that one of the biggest risks in respect of Covid is people's actions and their mobility. Now it is saying that is not the case, and the biggest risk is age. It is saying that people's professions, that is, their mobility and actions, are no longer a sufficient reason for them to be prioritised.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-03-31/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:10+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-03-31