Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We are all very conscious in the Department and in any agencies under our remit that everyone should be vaccinated as quickly as possible. It is important that we are led by public health advice and politicians do not make decisions about who get vaccinated but are instead guided by NPHET and the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC.

We are all concerned about the speed of the roll-out of the vaccination process. We need to ensure that flows. We know that from April, May and June almost 1 million vaccines per month will come into the country. It is about accelerating that process. I will be guided by public health advice, as all of my ministerial colleagues at Cabinet have to be.

I would love to be able to give the Deputy a date, but from a Government point of view we want the most efficient vaccine roll-out over the next few weeks and months, targeting the most vulnerable and those aged over 70. I am getting into an area that is not my remit, but we all know we need to target the most vulnerable first, which includes those aged over 70 and those at high risk. The Taoiseach will speak about this later.