John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I attended the meeting to which the Tánaiste referred and have checked the minutes. No reference was made to the purchase of 400,000 doses of vaccine. Will those 400,000 doses be given on a voluntary basis only? How many people does the Tánaiste expect to use the vaccine? When will the 400,000 doses arrive? Does the Tánaiste agree with the assessment of Dr. Kevin Kelleher, who addressed the Joint Committee on Health and Children, that the health service as it stands probably could not cope with a flu pandemic? Can she confirm that the full stock of antiviral drugs has not yet arrived and probably will not arrive until next September? Can she confirm that a new national emergency plan will not be finalised until the end of the summer, that the plan for dealing with a pandemic has not been updated since 2004 and that hospital isolation units are inadequate and sometimes non-existent? Given all of this, does she agree we cannot face a possible flu pandemic with any degree of real confidence?

See this speech in context