Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will put my questions quickly and, hopefully, get the Minister's response. I agree with the point made by earlier speakers about the need for transparency. That is very important. All the information relating to the number of vaccines that are delivered here, the number available, the number being held back and the number administered should be public information. Everybody understands that the supply is volatile. The more open the Minister is about that, the better. People can then understand the situation. We had to wait until the last few days, when we received a reply to a parliamentary question from Deputy Catherine Murphy, to find out how many vaccines had been delivered up to the end of February. We should have that information on a daily basis. Instead it is weekly. Every time the Minister has come to the House I have asked him to make that information available, and I am asking him yet again. Will he issue the daily figures for the vaccines? Everybody would know where we stand. We would also be in a position to assess the performance of the programme, which we all should be entitled to do. Data is essential for that.

On that basis, an interesting and concerning figure has emerged. More than 40,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been delivered, yet up to the end of February only 9,300 of those were administered. Does the Minister know the explanation for that? Why are we using only one quarter of the Moderna vaccines?

See this speech in context