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

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of the all-island approach to Covid-19 as did Deputy McDonald. As far as Covid-19 in the North is concerned, I have left politics outside the door in all my dealings with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. I respect the two jurisdictions and I respect there are two chief medical officers. I am not sure Deputy McDonald has always left politics outside the door in relation to that issue because she sometimes sought to blame the Republic. In more recent times, there has been a more consensual approach in terms of the issue. What is happening in the North in terms of the incidence rate there, the impact on hospitalisations and the impact on ICU is difficult and concerning. As we see it, if one does the modelling, the numbers could increase from where they are now and result in a more severe impact on hospitalisations and ICU. We have to stand in solidarity with the people of Northern Ireland in relation to this challenge they now face, to do everything we can to be of assistance and to remain vigilant in respect of our own situation here. What this demonstrates, as I said earlier, is the exponential rate at which this virus can grow.

The European Union is committed to the COVAX initiative and to helping those countries that are not in a position to afford the vaccines. Ultimately, there will be a surplus of vaccines in Europe in the latter part of the year.

The WHO has its initiatives and they should be funded more effectively because we need a global elimination of the virus, and some countries are not where the more advanced countries are. We support, and have been supportive of, the various initiatives that have been designed to provide vaccines to the least well-off across the globe. We will continue to do that.

On the all-island front, our chief medical officers are working together, our clinicians have been sharing advice and both health systems have been sharing advice and observations. I said earlier that we will have a meeting on Friday. We are concerned about the high rates of Covid in the Border counties as well. The virus does not respect borders but there are two political jurisdictions, an Executive in the North and a Government in the Republic. We will engage with the Executive to see if we can collectively get the incidence down on the island of Ireland. We are at different stages of the virus now. The fact that the different levels of restrictions have not been aligned over the recent months has proved challenging. The six weeks of level 5 we initiated here worked in getting numbers significantly down. They are not as low as we would have liked but they are the lowest in Europe. We are entering into the Christmas period with the lowest numbers in Europe, which is something we should acknowledge. However, we have to be very vigilant and wear our masks. We have to socially distance and every contact matters. We must protect our loved ones, especially the elderly, our grandparents and parents. That has to be our objective in the Republic.

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