Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the matter of family carers. I have been in contact with many carers in my constituency and their stories are heartbreaking. They look after the most medically vulnerable people in the State and they feel they have been completely abandoned. One constituent of mine cares for her elderly parents, both of whom have serious medical conditions. After one of them recently visited a hospital, both now have Covid-19. Their daughter appears to have no choice other than to care for them and potentially expose herself, her partner and their family to the virus. The other option is to leave them to fend for themselves, which is not in fact an option as they are both unable to look after themselves. Where is the plan for family carers? The Minister certainly did not clear that up when he was asked about it earlier on.

I have been contacted by many constituents who work in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, about the roll-out of vaccines. I have been told that many workers who do not have contact with patients, such as clerical workers, have received the vaccine ahead of staff who have direct contact with patients. Nobody has an issue with extra vaccines being put to good use but staff expect the priority list to be adhered to and that does not seem to be happening in that hospital at the moment. On top of this, many staff members, including those who work in paediatric wards and the maternity unit, were due to be vaccinated last Monday week and the plan was cancelled without explanation. It is 11 days on and they are still waiting for a new vaccination date. As the Minister knows, staff are already under huge strain trying to deal with enormous workloads, the stress of looking after patients with Covid and the additional pressures of other staff being absent due to sick leave. Under the Government's plan, these staff were to be prioritised for vaccination. That is clearly not happening and I am not the first to flag it with the Minister.

The maternity unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is running a full service. Its staff regularly deliver babies to mothers who are Covid-positive, they are running full face-to-face antenatal clinics and they also work daily shifts in the emergency department. Not one midwife nurse has been vaccinated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital despite the fact that County Louth has some of the highest rates of Covid in the State. Front-line workers at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital have been putting their lives at risk to look after people since last March. They are saving lives and the Minister expects them to put on their uniforms every morning and face into another difficult, stressful and sometimes heartbreaking day at work. All they are asking is to be prioritised in line with what the Minister and the Government said the plan was.

When can family carers expect to be vaccinated and when can midwives, nurses and other front-line staff at Our Lady of Lourdes expect to be vaccinated? The Minister said earlier that vaccination was an operational matter for the HSE. That is not acceptable. He is the Minister in charge and he cannot absolve himself of responsibility in the middle of a pandemic. Will he intervene to make sure those staff, who are very scared and have to face that risk every single day, are vaccinated?

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