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

First, I think we should point out that about 2 million people receive the flu vaccine. We are not strangers to national immunisation programmes, although this will be of a far greater scale than we have had so far. There has been a very significant roll-out of the flu vaccination programme in itself. That worked very well, notwithstanding all of the complaints and criticisms.

Clearly, one of the task force's work streams is around an IT infrastructure to capture the data on those who have been vaccinated but also in terms of monitoring the vaccine's effectiveness, monitoring the uptake of the vaccination and supporting post-vaccination evaluation.

The common good has to prevail. This is a public health initiative designed to help the entire population in terms of the elimination of this virus, which has been so devastating for so many. Legal advice is ongoing in relation to whether legislation is required or not on a number of fronts but it is our view that as things stand at present, we are in a position to move ahead. Suffice it to say, the IT infrastructure is a key part of this situation, as are quite a number of other work streams.

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