Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I confirm I am within the Leinster House campus. I thank the witnesses from NIAC for being with us today and, more importantly, for all the work they have been undertaking for the last number of months. I wish to put a number of points to Dr. Colm Henry and he decide to re-assign some of those. I represent County Clare and many people in the county are being vaccinated at the Radisson Hotel, which is located on the Clare-Limerick border. The mid-west vaccination team has been sending text messages out to people notifying them that it is their turn to get the all-important jab. I hope Dr. Henry can see the message - I have printed out what the text message states because it is extremely casual. It comes from an 086 number. It asks the people to please reply "Yes" or "No" as to whether they can attend. They are also asked to bring ID along with the text on their phone as proof of appointment and to ring the number between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. with any queries. The message is very casual. Many people believe it to be phoney, a fake text or a scam and they are not replying to it, which means they are losing out on key appointments. This is happening repeatedly at the local vaccination centre. The message lacks all formality. I explained to some HSE staff that in this day and age people receive text messages from their banks, supermarkets and all sorts of companies and entities that look more formal. There is such important work going on at the Radisson Hotel and it is wonderful. We thank those involved for what they are doing, but this text message lacks all formality. As a result of the latter, hundreds of people are not opting to text back and are losing out on their appointments. It is a basic issue to which I would draw Dr. Henry's attention if he is not already aware of it. I ask that he examine regularising the position in this regard as a matter of urgency and ensure that there is some structure put onto that message. Is he aware of the matter already?