Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. With regard to transparency, we will always endeavour to do as much as possible. I hope the House appreciates that real efforts have been made. There are daily updates online, daily updates on the tracker app and the Oireachtas gets a daily update. In my ten years in the Dáil, I do not remember ever getting a daily update from Government on anything. While we all want more information and I accept that, I hope the House appreciates that real efforts have been made and continue to be made in terms of transparency.

When it comes to forecasts of delivery, I reiterate what I said earlier. The forecast deliveries change all the time. They changed at least three times in the last week, for example, and AstraZeneca in the last seven days has changed its forecast to us three times. If we put out these forecasts and they get changed on a Monday, then get changed on a Thursday and then get changed on a Saturday, there is a real concern that people will say this programme is not under control when, in fact, all it would be is one company which, very frustratingly, has not been delivering accordingly. We want to make sure we get the balance and that we do not cause undue concern.

If we look, for example, at the coverage this week, something very simple happened. One figure went out for a forecast for administered vaccines but because of AstraZeneca not delivering, that was reduced, not by a lot but it was reduced by a bit. There was widespread coverage that the system was in trouble and certain Members of this House were on the media, giving out about it, attacking the HSE and attacking the Government. That was with one number for one forecast for one week. We have to try to get the balance right in terms of information that we know is going to change, and change regularly. We do not want to cause undue anxiety and we certainly do not want to erode confidence in the system.

With regard to the question of more centres, the situation in the Helix was absolutely phenomenal to see. It was incredible. It was like walking into a room of raw, undistilled hope. Certainly, if the right thing to do is to have more of them, we can certainly do that.

With regard to NIAC and the over-70s, that is being kept under review. Obviously, I do not want to pre-empt what it may say.

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