John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A great book by the author Dr. Ida Milne is a treatise on the Spanish flu. Dr. Milne tells the story of a battalion of US soldiers who arrived at the Western Front in France in September 1918, who fought on the front in October, with the war ending in November. Some 440 of that battalion succumbed to the Spanish flu and only a small fraction succumbed in action. The metaphor is not lost in our time now. I think of those constituents such as the kidney dialysis patients in particular. One driver, who brings this particular constituent to hospital for dialysis, tested positive for Covid. The patient then had to undergo ten tests. Having listened to the Minister and the Minister of State on the agility and flexibility of the vaccination programme I ask them to be conscious of that situation. I hope an abundance of supply will assist us in that flexibility.

What can the Minister say, in the remaining minute and a half of my time, for those people who are availing of homecare packages, as they are essentially in hospital but at home?

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