Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The sentiments expressed by the Deputy are shared across the House. These staff provide critical services. I will ask my officials to email to the Deputy a link to the HSE's document published on 5 February, which contains guidelines for sequencing and registration for healthcare workers and seeks to answer the questions the Deputy has raised. For example, sequence group 2d relates to healthcare workers who deal with unscheduled care patients in a controlled environment on a daily basis, for example, patient-facing staff who work in inpatient residential care areas that provide care for unscheduled care service users and community settings providing walk-in access for patients and service users, such as walk-in community services, addiction services, homelessness services and walk-in mental health facilities. It may not respond exactly to what the Deputy has articulated in terms of all the different groups within those vital services, but it at least provides a clear prioritisation in terms of how we get to all of the people we need to vaccinate as quickly as possible.

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