Ms Siobhán McArdle:

From a HSE perspective the flu programme forms part of the public health response and is very much part of our winter plan every year. Plans are in development to extend it with particular attention to ensuring there is high uptake in our staff cohort across both community and acute services. We will also extend the programme to higher-risk groups such as people with chronic disease and children to ensure that there is very robust management of flu. That very much ties into our response to the winter plan.