Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I absolutely share his view on the maternity services. I heard Paul Reid's comments earlier. Mr. Reid was signalling that the conditions are right to do this. As the Deputy and as that couple will be aware, however, that has not happened yet, which is why the dad is currently outside the hospital. We wish them the very best at this hopefully incredibly joyous time.

As I am sure we will agree, to date it has been a decision on a local level. It is not decision for me. It is not a political decision, as I believe the Deputy will agree. It is a clinical decision. We are engaging with the HSE on this and we would like to see it move forward. The point I was trying to make earlier, though, is that we have to follow the clinical advice on this rather than trying to impose a political view. I fully share the Deputy's view that we want to get this open as quickly as possible, however.

I will tell him exactly where we are regarding the latest plan. The Department received a proposal from the HSE late on Monday night, which I looked at on Tuesday morning. The CMO, Department, public health team and I are in discussions with NIAC. We need to leave that a little bit of time. I cannot give the Deputy an exact date, although I would very much like to be able to do so. It will be soon enough, however. I cannot say it will be today or tomorrow but we are looking at it, as is NIAC. The good news is that we do not need a decision imminently. We have plenty of vaccines and plenty of people in the cohorts that are open to keep going at full tilt for now. The Deputy is, however, absolutely correct that in time, it will become an issue.

Finally, there is some good news on the 60 to 69-year-olds. First, for many people who are given the AstraZeneca vaccine, the waiting time is 12 weeks. I have the detailed NIAC advice, which is different for different groups. I can read it out or give it to the Deputy afterwards if he prefers. The important bit, however, is that people will be deemed to be fully vaccinated at an equivalent time. From memory, it would be AstraZeneca dose 1 plus four weeks.

See this speech in context