Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are working with the Office of Government Procurement to improve the preparation of business plans. Some supports are available from Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and the local enterprise offices to help vendors prepare tenders. A financial planning grant of up to €5,000 is available for businesses to get an accountant or consultant to help develop a recovery and resilience plan. Local enterprise offices also issue business continuity vouchers for financial planning. Some supports are available to help businesses draw up business plans and thereby access tenders, grants and finance.

The Deputy is right to note that corporation tax cannot be warehoused. However, if a firm makes a loss this year but made a profit last year, it can get 50% of what it paid last year back as cash flow. There is a similar provision for the self-employed. That was announced quite a long time ago.

A vaccines task force is now up and running under the chairmanship of Dr. Brian MacCraith, who many of us will know. Plans will be put in place to ensure the vaccine is made available as quickly as possible. It is really encouraging to see so many companies developing vaccines. We would hope to have a few vaccines and cover people quickly by issuing some people with the Pfizer vaccine and others with the Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines. The residents of nursing homes will have to be the first priority. They account for more than half the deaths in Ireland, as well as in Northern Ireland and across western Europe. The priority will be to vaccinate them and healthcare workers, who have occupational exposure. The next priority will be other people who are in congregated settings, such as prisoners and some other groups. While the Pfizer vaccine has to be stored at -80°C, it can be refrigerated at a normal temperature for up to five days. The Moderna vaccine does not have to be kept so cold. However, these vaccines are new. Messenger RNA vaccines are totally new. I am very optimistic that we will be able to vaccinate those most at risk of contracting or spreading the virus in the first quarter of next year. That will totally change the R number. Science will save the day.

I am pleased to hear the news on antigen testing. I had not seen the HSE tender. I read the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, health technology assessment, HTA, on antigen testing. To be honest, I was disappointed. I had hoped it would be better. It has real limitations. If it is administered by someone who is not trained the results are much weaker. While it might be good at picking up positives, it misses a lot of cases. Some of the data from the UK indicate that antigen testing misses up to half of cases. It has a role but it seems to be vastly inferior to polymerase chain reaction, PCR, testing. I am not sure it is the right technology to use for screening for travel or things like that. Interestingly, Slovakia has tested its entire population. We will see the outcome of that.

I hope to publish our action plan on insurance reform next week. That sets out all the actions we will take on insurance in the next two years. Some are already under way. The Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018 is currently going through the Houses. The Deputy mentioned the Judicial Council's revised guidelines for injuries. We anticipate that they will be issued in the first few months of next year. In theory that will result in premiums going down, but people may dispute that. We do not yet know what the Judicial Council will come up with. The new guidelines may reduce awards significantly and bring them more in line with other countries or may simply tweak the existing situation. We reserve the option of legislating to cap awards.

It is significant that the Law Reform Commission has produced a report saying that we as the Oireachtas can do that as long as we allow a judicial get-out clause for a judge to make an exceptional award in exceptional circumstances. I chair the ministerial committee on insurance and I am determined to get things done on this issue. I do not know when that will turn into reduced premiums but I hope it will be in the course of this Government, if not sooner.