I will be very quick.

I will first address the query on cohorts and I will revert in writing on the rest. The short answer on cohorts 5, 6 and 7, and it is a fair question, is that they are in that sequence because NIAC has determined, using the clinical evidence available, that that is the prioritisation of risk in terms of vulnerability. For example, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has just pointed out that 93% of fatalities in Ireland to date were people aged 65 and older. Unfortunately, age is a very strong determinant.

I thank the Deputy for his very constructive ideas. I will engage with him. If he would like to meet up or send me something on exactly how we might use the app that would be great. We were a world leader in terms of the app. I believe it was the first multijurisdictional app anywhere in the world and I would love to see it used more. As he knows we have put the number of doses administered onto the app so if the Deputy has ideas about how we could expand its use I would love to hear them. In terms of those aged 85…

How much time have I got? Is the Deputy sharing time?

I fully appreciate where the Deputy is coming from on those with cystic fibrosis. As he said, it is a relatively small cohort. NIAC looked very carefully not just at conditions but at the range of conditions and it had to make clinical judgments based on the impact that Covid appears to have on those groups. It did that with cystic fibrosis. It has identified different severities of cystic fibrosis and put them in as very high risk or high risk. It has done the same on obesity, diabetes and across different disease…

The decisions on the locations of the larger vaccination centres were operational decisions of the HSE. To Deputy O'Dowd's point, by no means does this have to be the final and definitive list. If it is the case that a large vaccination centre is required in Drogheda, that will be provided. I wish to give the Deputy some comfort in the fact that people in or around Drogheda do not need to travel to Navan or Dundalk. As we scale this up, every GP practice and pharmacy in Drogheda will have the option to opt into the…

Regarding general practice, we are all aware that a number of GPs have contacted many politicians and have taken to the airwaves to express their frustration. It was always a three-week programme. In week one 255 GP clinics were involved; week two added another 500; this week the number is 542. There is a number. I am told that in about 65 practices where for various reasons it has not been possible to buddy up they are engaged directly with the IMO and the HSE and they will get their deliveries next week. Of cours…

I thank the Deputy for the various points she raised. On the question of consumables arriving with vaccines, they should arrive with them. There have been a small number of cases where this has not happened, and it is not good enough. The HSE is looking at that and we must demand better. It is common sense the right consumables and syringes to get the sixth dose out of the vials need to arrive with the vaccines. I can assure the Deputy that a lot of work is going into finding individual solutions for those who are …

It would take more than a minute or a minute and a half to respond adequately to the Deputy's questions. No one is saying that everything is going perfectly with the roll-out. It is not going perfectly and there have been issues, as discussed here today, in terms of some consumables not arriving and some vaccination dates for GPs having been changed. Nobody is suggesting that it is going perfectly. However, the language the Deputy used is complete and absolute nonsense. It is that kind of loose talk and nonsense th…

I will finish on this point. On top of that, we have correctly prioritised those who are most vulnerable.

I thank the Deputy for his questions and suggestions. I agree on the app. It was a great success. Particularly now that we have moved into the vaccination phase, we could probably do with a review to determine whether there is a bigger role for it. The Deputy will be aware that the vaccination numbers are on the app but I would be very happy to ask my team to conduct a review and determine whether there is more that can be done. On vaccine refusal, my understanding is that it is not logged. By a process of eliminat…

On Deputy Mattie McGrath's statements regarding the flu vaccine----

I will do my best. I was making the point that Deputy Mattie McGrath has continued to make false statements and he is seeking written answers to false statements around flu jabs which obviously we cannot give him.

I thank the Deputy. She has used very strong language. Her criticism is essentially a criticism of the thousands of women and men who are working seven days a week to deliver what has been one of the fastest roll-outs in the EU, prioritising our most vulnerable, changing at very short notice from AstraZeneca to the much more complex mRNA vaccine and changing at short notice to the reprioritisation of people with underlying conditions. It is deeply unfair criticism, not of me - the Deputy can criticise me all she wa…

I will finish on this.

The Deputy said it was a shambles.

I would be more than happy to debate it at length and respectfully. I really would. I know we are out of time.

I will be more than happy to engage with the Deputy at length on this at a later date. I was simply responding to the Deputy's charge that the programme was a shambles. I was trying to answer the questions raised.

If the House would allow it, I would be more than happy to spend more time with the Deputy.

I welcome the opportunity to present the Health (Amendment) Bill to the House. The Bill provides for mandatory quarantine at a designated facility for passengers arriving from designated category 2 countries and for those who arrive in breach of the pre-departure negative polymerase chain reaction, PCR, test requirement. We can all see the impact of the Covid pandemic, one year now after the first case was identified in Ireland. We have all seen the impact on life in our communities, the suffering caused by Covid a…