Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I genuinely regret the politically-charged manner in which the Deputy is presenting this issue. I did not think that the Dáil on its own was going to decide on who gets vaccinated first, in a political way. To juxtapose the vaccination programme so far with suggesting that 500,000 people are the "forgotten people" is wrong. No one here wants to forget anybody regarding vaccination. The Government's agenda is to vaccinate as many people as quickly as we possibly can, which is dependent on getting the requisite volumes of vaccines into the country. That is our objective, like everybody else's in this House. I am not forgetting anybody in respect of vaccination. I do not think that charge should be made. There can be wider political issues around supports for carers, and the Government has provided a whole range of supports for carers.

Regarding the vaccination programme, however, of course we want to vaccinate those who have been prioritised on medical and age grounds. Why? We want to do that because the vaccines prevent severe illness and mortality. The evidence base so far from doctors and public health clinicians is that senior citizens in nursing homes should be first and then the front-line healthcare workers dealing with Covid-19 in their daily interactions on the front line. Regarding many cases, we have said to NIAC to reconsider the cohort. We have formally written to it regarding those people with conditions and those who are more vulnerable to falling victim to the virus in terms of severe illness or mortality.

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