Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá brón orm go raibh mé déanach. Tá dul chun cinn maith á dhéanamh i leith dáileadh na vacsaíne. Táthar tuar go mbainfear amach an sprioc de 500,000 an tseachtain seo. Beidh an chéad dáileog faighte ag ár gclainne agus ag ár gcairde a bhfuil os cionn 85 bliana d’aois faoi dheireadh na seachtaine seo. Cé go bhfuil bóthar fada amach romhainn go fóill, tá sé le feiceáil go bhfuil toradh dearfach anseo agus go hidirnáisiúnta ó thaobh tionchar na vacsaíní. Tá sé mar sprioc ag an Rialtas go mbeidh an chéad dáileog den vacsaín faighte ag breis agus 80% de dhaoine fásta faoi dheireadh mhí an Mheithimh.

I appreciate that there have been some issues and delays with the vaccine programme. A consignment of 25,000 AstraZeneca vaccines that we had expected to arrive last week did not arrive at short notice. We are told it will arrive before the end of the month, allowing us to catch up. There will be weeks when we fall behind target and there will be weeks when we go ahead of target. I acknowledge that there have been difficulties in getting the vaccine to some general practices. This is a big logistical operation and we need to be patient and supportive with the HSE as it works this out and gets the job done.

There are reasons for optimism and reasons for comfort. By this weekend 500,000 vaccines will have been given in the State. We will be close to completion with nursing home staff and residents, with front-line healthcare workers, and we will be there or thereabouts with the over-85s. This week already we have moved on to people in the 80 to 84 age group, which is very encouraging. This is happening in some parts of the country.

On priority and how people are prioritise, at the moment two groups are being prioritised. The first is the healthcare workers, and we all understand why this should be the case because they are the ones most at risk of getting this virus, and people over the age of 70 and those under the age of 70 with medical conditions because they are the ones most likely to get severely ill and most likely to die from this virus. The groups being prioritised are healthcare workers, who are most at risk of getting sick, people over the age of 70, and those under the age of 70 who have a medical condition who are most at risk of dying or getting very sick as a result of this virus. The national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, advises that these are the groups that should be prioritised. The Government agrees with that prioritisation. While I totally appreciate and value the work done by carers all over the country I do not believe they should be prioritised at the expense of healthcare workers, at the expense of those aged over 70 or at the expense of those under 70 who have a severe medical condition. In fairness, I do not think that Deputy Doherty believes that either. We all accept that healthcare workers must come first, then the elderly and then people with medical conditions as they are most at risk. Once they have all had their first dose, then NIAC will be able to consider other groups, including carers. I do not believe one should play politics with this, which Sinn Féin is doing. If Deputy Doherty was being honest in his position he would at least say who he thinks should be downgraded. Any time one moves any group or profession, anybody in society or any cohort up the list of priority, by definition one has to move somebody down. When the Deputy calls for groups to be prioritised and does not have the honesty to say who he wants to be moved down the list, it means that the Deputy's position is not genuine and that he is playing politics. Carers are too busy and have too much on their hands to be played politics with in the way the Deputy is doing.

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