Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. However, all she has done is reiterate what we already know. I do not mean to be disrespectful to her when I say that I am frustrated that the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is not here to participate in the debate. He seems to be avoiding this issue entirely. He is giving me evasive replies to parliamentary questions and promising updates on my meeting requests which never arrive. His role is not to sit back and blindly do what he is told to do by cautious, anonymous public servants. His role is to question, probe and, above all else, act. He is not a passenger in the car; he is the person driving the car for us during a pandemic. He is choosing our course and our speed of acceleration.

I believe, as do the scientists and academics I am working with, that we cannot afford to wait any longer for action on vitamin D. We are not alone. People like Professor Luke O'Neill are flying this flag too. The Minister must make vitamin D supplementation part of the Government's new plan for living with Covid. We can look across the water for inspiration in this regard. Finland, with a higher population than us, has buried 3,000 fewer people than we have during this pandemic. For almost two decades, Finland has been fortifying its food with vitamin D.

Apart from the remote island of Iceland, the people of Finland have the lowest death rate from Covid-19 in Europe, and because of vitamin D they had a head start when it came to Covid-19.

Let us look closer to home. Right now in England - the Minister of State referenced the report - a four-month supply of vitamin D supplements is being given to those who are medically vulnerable. Those responsible have not said this new measure is a direct response to Covid-19. I imagine this is why they have not advised to go with a higher dosage, which is what the covit-D consortium are recommending. Is that because they do not have evidence to categorically and definitively say so? Instead of waiting for additional evidence that may come too late, they are acting on what they already know. As we know, in a pandemic speed trumps perfection.

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