Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will take that as a "No". The Minister indicated that there was contact at the appropriate level but then went on to say that the EU is doing a great job and we will be doing well. Earlier, he stated that there will be 50,000 vaccinations a week. If that is the limit we are tied to then, as I said earlier, it will take us two years to inoculate everyone. I respectfully suggest that the Minister or the Taoiseach lift the phone because that is what I would do. If the Minister decides that Ireland is a small country and will not get the vaccine anywhere else, then he will be right that we will not. I would lift the phone to Stéphane Bancel of Moderna, Albert Bourla of Pfizer, Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca and Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson and ask how much do they want because we are prepared to pay and that Ireland is putting Irish citizens first, just like Germany and Israel are doing as regards their citizens. As the Minister's party colleague, I appeal to him to shelve the good European line just for once. We will pay for whatever they give us but let us look for more for our people.

My next question is not related but it is very important. In the post-Brexit scenario, it seems that under the cross-border directive, pre-authorised patients in the Republic seeking various surgeries in the North for which they were preapproved are now being told by the relevant section of the HSE in Kilkenny that it is awaiting a policy decision from the Department of Health and that until it gets that decision, it can do nothing. The Minister is aware, as are all Ministers and anybody in the business of politics, that people have taken out credit union loans and borrowed from family to arrange their procedures in the North under the cross-border directive with pre-authorisation from the HSE. Now we are welching on it because we are waiting for a policy decision from the Department of Health. We all celebrated a Brexit deal. It would not look like much of a deal to me if I had booked into a clinic for a procedure for which the HSE was going to reimburse me and I borrowed from the credit union or family members to pay for it and now the HSE is saying it is waiting for a policy decision. Let us up the game, take the policy decision and ensure that patients are getting what we told them we would provide.

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