Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Beacon Hospital gave vaccines to staff of the private school attended by the children of its CEO. The hospital gave the jab to staff of Park Academy crèches and the CEO of the VHI. The Irish Daily Mail reports that at least one other senior manager with no clinical role at the VHI was contacted by the Beacon Hospital and offered a Covid-19 jab at the start of March. I am told there is a 1990s revival going on at the moment. Certainly, it seems that the golden circle of that decade has not gone away. It used to be about contracts and money, and ordinary people suffered as a result. Now it seems to be about life and death, and ordinary people may get sick or even die as a result of this kind of carry-on.

I agree with the statement by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, that private health facilities should be brought into public ownership. The case for that has been strengthened by the events of recent days. How can the Taoiseach oppose that proposal in the light of recent events?

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