Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Tánaiste knows, I have been asking this week a number of questions on the rolling out of vaccines and our proposals in this regard. I have been doing so in a non-political way, maybe to dial up our preparations for this collectively. The Irish Times reports today that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, is bringing a memo to the Government next Tuesday on who will be prioritised for vaccination. I understand the Tánaiste briefed his parliamentary party in this regard. However, the Taoiseach said to me on Tuesday and Wednesday that we would have to wait for the report of the expert review group on Friday. Therefore, I am confused. Which date is it? Who is leading on this? Will we know about priorities on Tuesday or will it be on Friday, from the MacCraith expert report? The Cabinet subcommittee is rightly making decisions but so too are the MacCraith expert group, the National Immunisation Office, which does fantastic work, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, NPHET, the HSE and, obviously, the Department. I am re-stressing a question: who is in control? Who is making the decisions? Who has seniority as regards decision-making? It has to be the Cabinet but we are all aware of the issues that arose when both NPHET and the Government made statements. I have just mentioned a long list of groups that all have a massive role to play, but we must not have confusion. We need one person in charge. I repeat that to the Tánaiste today.

I have asked a plethora of questions but I want to focus on three. About a year and a half ago, there was quite a lot of controversy over the public service card and related issues and concerns. How are we going to manage data with respect to vaccines? The only unique identification code is the PPS number. Hanging off that, in a new database that will have to be built, presumably through the National Immunisation Office, will be a large amount of information on underlying illnesses and personal details. Are we prepared for that? Is new, emergency legislation required?

Second, if a company such as Intel decides privately that it is going to buy the vaccine to give it to its workers, will it be allowed to do so? This goes for any company; I just picked one out of the air. The issue is one of public versus private. Should vaccination not be based on need rather than whether someone can pay for it? Do we need legislation on this? Will the State control how the vaccine is given out? That is an important question.

Public health officials must play a massive role in the roll-out of the vaccination programme but they are going on strike on 14 January, 21 January and 22 January because their pay is 48% less than that of consultants. How is the Government going to deal with this considering the role they will have in the roll-out of the vaccination programme over the next few months? I would appreciate it if the Tánaiste answered those questions.

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