Does the Deputy mean the portal where people will be able to sign up?

It is being worked on at present. There are many different factors at play including GPs, pharmacists, local clinical judgment, the protocols etc.

The IT system is active at present through the long-term residential care and with the front-line healthcare workers. There is another piece to it, which we do not need yet but we hope to need very quickly, which is the portal. That will be ready very soon and certainly well before it is needed when the vaccination schedules increase.

I agree they have been treated as the poor cousins in public health. I want to see them having consultant status. It is moving quickly. There has been much work done between my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Obviously, these are contractual. It is a very significant increase in pay and, as the Deputy will be aware, these issues must be syndicated at a Government level. I can assure the Deputy that the threat of strike action did not speed things up. We were already moving on this. I…

I will revert in writing if the Leas-Cheann Comhairle wants.

I thank Deputy Bruton for his questions. I will try and go through them quickly. The Deputy asked can we arrange briefings on the vaccination programme. Absolutely. We had two briefings last week for the Oireachtas. We had one for party leaders. We had another for Health spokespersons. I hope the Deputy has been getting the regular updates from me which I have been sending out to all TDs and Senators.

That is something we can look at. The determinant is not only age. There is the underlying medical conditions group, which is quite a big group. That was the recommendation from NIAC, based on the principles it put together. Obviously many people are asking similar questions and want to understand why one group and not another is dealt with. It is the kind of thing that could be addressed by the type of briefings about which the Deputy spoke. Do we need a wider analysis of the damage? I could not agree more. We mea…

Yes, I absolutely do. The new deal reflects exactly that. I want to reiterate that while I felt last year the deal did not work for anybody, there was no criticism of those involved for doing it, given the level of the crisis. I have said that many times previously. We did need to learn from that, however, and do it better. This deal works for patients first and foremost and for the State better. If and when the State needs to use the capacity, then we pay for it. We are avoiding exactly what the Deputy and I have …

I and the rest of the Government accept responsibility for the decisions we make. Every Government must accept responsibility for the decisions it makes. Was this predicted? Absolutely not. The worst-case scenario we saw was a R value of 1.8. Last week, the R rate was calculated at between 2.4 and 3. The Deputy is entirely wrong, however. When the Government decided to move from level 5 to level 3 on 1 December, it was in line with NPHET's advice. NPHET said to go to level 3 and keep hospitality closed but open up …

It is not a point of order. These are verifiable facts available to the Deputy and to everybody else.

Like the Deputy, I have been contacted by many GPs throughout the country very reasonably asking the same question as to when they will be vaccinated. Not only are they front-line workers, they will also be involved in the vaccination programme. There are 150,000 front-line healthcare workers in the second prioritisation cohort. They include GPs and many others who work in hospitals and throughout the community. As a result of this, some GP vaccination has already started and more will be starting in the coming day…

There is ongoing contact at the appropriate level, which is task force level, between the State and the pharmaceutical companies. However, let us be very clear. If Ireland went on its own and tried to secure volumes of vaccine, as a tiny country in a highly competitive global market right now, we would not do very well. What we are doing is working as part of the EU. The EU has supplied significant quantities and they are being distributed pro rata . Ireland gets 1.11%. The total amount we have now signed up to is …

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, two seconds.

No, sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am responding to this, with respect. It will be one sentence and I am responding. Deputy MacSharry-----

Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I would note that when you were on the floor-----

-----you were given a lot more than 20 seconds.

Really.

I will revert to the Deputy with a note on exactly that. It is a very specific question around a very important capital build and capital refurbishment so I will revert to him with a note on it.

I thank the Deputy for the questions. The most important thing for all of us to understand, and I have asked the question myself on the IT system, is that a very complex IT system has been put in place that did not exist previously. Due to a lack of investment in public health in the past we did not have an existing national vaccination IT system and that has now been put in place in record time. Critically, none of the IT development is slowing down the vaccination programme. In some cases, as part of the data gat…

The roll-out to front-line health is an operational decision which has been given to each of the hospital groups. Therefore there may be GPs vaccinated in one county or city in the same way that residents in one nursing home might be vaccinated a week or two before another, or that nurses and doctors might be vaccinated in one hospital before another, or indeed colleagues in the same hospital. There is a national roll-out programme. It has started. GPs are part of the front-line healthcare worker group, which is th…