Yes, but there is an added complication in that the clinical trial data on under 18s are not back yet.

How long do I have?

Absolutely. I thank all three Deputies for their questions. On Deputy Niamh Smyth's questions, paramedics are included in the first group and are being vaccinated now as front-line healthcare workers. All three Deputies asked about people with underlying conditions. As we discussed earlier, very detailed work is being done by the national immunisation advisory committee to look at that issue. We are all agreed on the matter of people within the group with underlying conditions who are very high-risk. That is being …

The sentiments expressed by the Deputy are shared across the House. These staff provide critical services. I will ask my officials to email to the Deputy a link to the HSE's document published on 5 February, which contains guidelines for sequencing and registration for healthcare workers and seeks to answer the questions the Deputy has raised. For example, sequence group 2d relates to healthcare workers who deal with unscheduled care patients in a controlled environment on a daily basis, for example, patient-facing…

We need a global solution to this issue for all sorts of reasons. We need it for ethical and moral reasons. We also need it for reasons of self-interest. There is no point in Ireland fully vaccinating its people when we live in a globalised world. We need a global solution. Given that we need a global solution for ethical and moral reasons and for our own self-interest, is the solution the suspension of intellectual property? Maybe it is but I would be concerned about that as the solution and I will state why. Thes…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. The question on rapid testing is a very good and pertinent one. I have raised with the Commission and the other health ministers that there should be a centralised clearing house and some sort of co-ordination in terms of the ability to validate and then deploy antigen testing and also to share information across the EU. I can say to the Deputy that I think there is a bigger opportunity to use antigen and rapid testing in this country. I have set up an expert group chaired …

I will ask that the Deputy is sent a link to the relevant paper. It was issued on 5 February to answer exactly these kinds of reasonable questions. This circular gives a description of who is included in cohort 2, that is, front-line healthcare workers. Group 2(g) covers all other healthcare workers without direct patient care but who are working in a healthcare facility with the potential to meet patients who are not captured in any of the earlier categories. Examples include laboratory staff, pharmacists, caterin…

I have asked the Department to do a detailed review of cohort 7, which includes those with underlying health conditions. The current size of that cohort is especially large because it is an estimate of everyone in the country with an underlying condition. The view expressed consistently in the House - it is one I share - is that there is a smaller group within that cohort who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and who might get ill or die if they were to contract Covid-19. The national immunisation advisory co…

My thanks to the Deputy for her question. There is nothing I would like more - there is nothing any of us would like more - than to have all of the supply here now, because then we could vaccinate all the people the Deputy is talking about at the same time. That is what we would like to be able to do. However, because of the limited supplies, at least in the initial months, we need prioritisation. The prioritisation came from the national immunisation committee and was agreed by the National Public Health Emergency…

I am not sure there was a question but if there was I am more than happy to pick it up. It was more of a statement, if that is fair.

In response to Deputy O'Dowd, I will have to take a look at the report he referenced about the 800 people. It does not sound like something that should have happened but without being able to look at the specifics, it is very hard for me to comment. Certainly, the isolated instances we have discussed in the House previously in respect of family members were not acceptable and under no circumstances should that have happened. I am happy to look into the referenced report. Similarly, the issue regarding the hotel in …

The Deputy asked if we are vaccinating those who have had Covid-19 in order and the answer is, "Yes". As he and I have talked about previously, there is interesting evidence and data from the UK, which the Deputy referenced. I have requested that NPHET comes back to me with a view on that but the current position is regardless of whether or not one has had Covid-19, one will be vaccinated. Both Deputies asked understandable questions about those with underlying conditions. As the Deputies acknowledged, there will n…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss Ireland's response to Covid-19 and I thank the Deputies in the Labour Party for tabling the motion. I have read it carefully and it contains many very good ideas, many of which are in line with approaches being taken or being considered by the Government at present. I look forward to an ongoing constructive debate throughout the House as we navigate our way through this very difficult global pandemic. Before I continue, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the famili…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “recognises: — that like most of Europe, Ireland experienced increasing Covid-19 infection rates over the winter months and by December and January infection rates were accelerating rapidly with consequent increases in hospitalisation and mortality rates; — that the Government, following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), took decisive and proactive action and put in place Level 5 restrictions …

I thank Senators Ardagh and O'Loughlin for raising this matter and giving us the opportunity to discuss it this morning. I agree entirely with the comments of both Senators. We have an ambitious plan to progress this. It is moving. It is a very important commitment in the programme for Government. It is critical that couples who seek help for fertility, including IVF, are supported. We want to see them supported in the public health system. We want to move away from a situation in which for many people, it is not s…

I again thank Senators Ardagh and O'Loughlin for raising the issue and allowing us to debate it. I should state that the drafting of the AHR Bill and the roll-out of the model of care really are a priority for the Government, for me and obviously for the Senators who have advocated long and very well on this issue, which I thank them for. The drafting and roll-out have been subject to delays due to Covid. Obviously, dealing with Covid has pulled the HSE and the Department every which way. It has impacted the normal…

I will be sharing time. I will take approximately the first ten minutes. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to update the House on the Covid-19 vaccine programme. Like so much of our nation's response to the pandemic, the vaccine programme is testament to the way that Ireland, as a nation, has come together to show the best of what it can achieve. One of the most powerful demonstrations of how the pandemic has brought out the best is in the development of vaccines against Covid-19. Private sector…

As of last Sunday, 24 January, 143,000 doses of vaccine have been administered to our front-line healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities.

This equates to almost 3% of our population. A full 66,000 doses were administered to residents and staff-----

-----of long-term residential care facilities.