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

The Deputy should stop the blackguarding on this issue. I want to make the point that there are a number of strands of thought that have emerged. I will come back to Deputy Ó Murchú's question because he has made a valid point in the global sense. A total of 95% of everything that comes into the country is being injected into people within the week. That is a fact.

In terms of the global supply issue, there are three major continents that are manufacturing vaccines. In Asia, we have China, and then there is Europe and the United States. There is no magic tree out there that we can pick vaccines off. That is an illusion. I spoke to the UK Prime Minister and we talked about vaccines. He volunteered to me that he would love to help Ireland but his first priority is to get his entire people vaccinated. That is what he said. Yet, we have people jumping up and down saying we should ask Boris Johnson and he will give us his surplus. He does not have surplus vaccines to give to Ireland right now.

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