David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there are supply issues but the middle of May for all of the over 70s to be inoculated is a long time for those most at risk to wait. This will cause concern for many older people. I know that the GPs are ready to play their part as, we are told, are pharmacists. There are community vaccinators I am sure who can also play their part. It is very difficult when we hear that we were hoping that it would be the end of March and now it is the middle of May, and may be longer.

My second question, which I raised with the Minister last week and which I have to raise again, is on the issue of family carers. I have spoken to hundreds of family carers since he responded to me last week in the Chamber. He said that family carers are not being seen as a distinct cohort of people, in and of themselves, who will be vaccinated. They are very angry and sore about that. His response was that carers who work for the HSE and for private providers are seen as a priority and will be in priority 2 but family carers are not. We are talking here about people who care for very vulnerable children and there are many such people.

I will relay one of hundreds of messages which I have received, this one from someone called Geraldine. She is caring for her son full time, who has profound disabilities and is non-verbal. He has been informed that he will be in the Covid-19 vaccination group 7. He needs care 24-7, his parents are 66 years old and 68 years old, and they are worried what will happen to him if they get Covid-19. The question has been asked about who cares for the carers.

In the spirit of what has been said to us in the past concerning it being possible for the allocation groups for vaccination to be looked at again and revisited, and given that family carers feel very sore and not very valued in this context when they hear the responses they have been given, can the Minister re-examine this situation and ask the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, to re-examine it as well? I ask that because this is a cohort of people, in and of themselves, who need to be valued, respected and listened to when they are telling us of their experiences in the way in which they have.

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