David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will make a very short opening statement before moving on to questions to the Minister. I have to say that his opening statement fell far short of what was needed. No timeframes or targets were given and the Minister did not revise the timeframes he had given to Deputies in this House and to the public over recent weeks. It pains me to say it but it is very difficult to retain confidence in the roll-out of the vaccination programme when we are not given the information we should be getting from the Minister for Health. He had ten minutes to set out a clear strategy that would provide people with clarity and certainty but he has not done so. He shared time with a backbencher and did not use the opportunity he was given today to give us the information we need. This is not a time for spoofing but a time for absolute clarity and certainty and a time to give assurances and reassurances to the public with regard to the roll-out of the vaccines. We need strong leadership on this issue and it once again pains me to say that we are not getting it. That is deeply disappointing.

Two weeks ago in this Chamber, the Minister said that the initial plan was "to inoculate 700,000 people by the end of March". In his opening contribution, he failed to point out that this was based on an assumption that AstraZeneca would be certified and that a set number of doses of its vaccine would be available. This only came out after I and others put questions to him. As we now know, that has run into difficulties. The Minister has provided no timeframes at all in his opening statement so let us get to them in the questions.

Does the Minister still anticipate that 700,000 people will be vaccinated by the end of March?

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