Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regarding Deputy Kelly's question, I said to him earlier that I appreciate the constructive way in which the question was put. I established a task force and asked my Department to co-ordinate its work in order to give a sense of the national priority that attaches to what will be a very significant logistical undertaking in regard to the procurement, storage and distribution of the vaccine, and IT infrastructure to back that up, and proper protocols around the administering of the vaccine, including deciding, in the first instance, who will administer it - it could very well necessitate additional personnel, over and above GPs, given the scale of the undertaking - and also the prioritisation of who receives the vaccines and the sequence of that. To be fair, there are structures already in place in the Department of Health around immunisation and we already have people with considerable experience in this area, including the national immunisation advisory committee. The HSE will be the operational delivery arm of all of this. Already, four significant streams of work have been established, covering the areas I have identified. A key additional piece would be on communications around the vaccination programme itself and the value and importance of vaccines in dealing with viruses of this nature.

That said, I will reflect on what the Deputy said. Those on the task force are well aware that it was established by the Taoiseach, will have to report back to the Taoiseach and we want to keep it at that level in terms of making sure it gets prioritisation across Government and across the different agencies. The Department of Health and the HSE will play a key role in the health dimension of this but will draw upon expertise in other Departments and from the private sector in terms of the logistics side and ensuring we can get the vaccines rolled out as safely and efficiently as we possibly can as they come on stream, if they get authorisation from the various authorising bodies. The Deputy's suggestion is that a Minister or Minister of State be put in charge of delivery of all of that. As I have outlined, it is being co-ordinated by my Department and that will continue. However, I will give consideration to what the Deputy said.

Regarding Deputy Boyd Barrett's point, I already said that the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who is in office some five months, has secured significant resources to transform public health. That is known and the funding has been secured. The Minister announced plans in September to double the workforce in public health. It is currently at approximately 254 people and the plan is to double that. The hiring process has already begun. The Minister, the Department and the Government have been very clear in their support for the creation of consultant posts in public health medicine. I do not agree that now is the time for strike action, in the middle of a global pandemic. I believe the issue can be resolved through ongoing talks and engagement with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, under the public service stability agreement. That is the forum for resolving these issues.

The creation of consultant-level posts and roles in public health medicine is a priority for the Government and we are fully committed to delivering on it. Obviously, much detailed work goes into that, as everybody knows. The HSE has put a substantial amount of work into it and the Department of Health has developed a detailed framework for the future public health model that includes consultant-level roles. The business plan seeking consultant status was submitted last week to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for consideration. That will be the basis for the engagement with the IMO on the matter. People in the public health arena are aware that this kind of progress has been made. There is a process that has to be followed. We believe in a consultant role but how that all works out and how people apply for the roles and posts that will be created is the type of detail that needs to be worked out with all concerned.

Regarding Deputy McDonald's questions, we dealt with this issue last week. I agree with her on the need to provide additional resources for more refuge places and to deal with domestic violence on a co-ordinated basis. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has been proactive, and remains proactive, in this regard. She is committed to expanding services and dealing with issues that have arisen and have been brought to her attention.

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