Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a number of questions. I will take three minutes and give the Minister the remaining time to answer if he could.

I was contacted by a lady whose mother is 69 and is housebound. She had received a vaccine appointment for a clinic but she had not received an appointment from the National Ambulance Service to come out to her house. When I contacted the HSE about this, it was confirmed to me that there is no system in place for under-70s who are housebound to receive their vaccines at home. To me the Minister has dropped the ball on this issue. Will the Minister instruct his officials in the Department to sort this out? Was the Minister aware of this situation?

Expectant mothers in Cork are still waiting to receive their vaccines. A lady contacted me whose GP is still waiting on instructions from the HSE. Cork University Maternity Hospital has told this lady that it will be back in touch in a few weeks' time. This lady is 25 weeks pregnant. She does not have weeks to wait for someone to come back to her. There are plenty more women in Cork, and right across the country from listening to other Deputies, who cannot wait and who need to be vaccinated. These are vulnerable women. I am not trying to be alarmist but the Minister made comments about the link between Covid-19 and stillbirths. Vulnerable women are worried by these comments. On 27 April the Minister said the vaccine would be rolled out for them. Why are these pregnant women waiting?

There is no vaccine clinic on the north side of Cork city. I have raised this issue before. People could be stuck travelling for an hour on public transport to get vaccinated. Why are we putting barriers in place when half of Cork does not have a vaccine centre? I mention facilities such as Upper Glanmire community centre. A local area representative, Mandy O'Leary-Hegarty, said the community is available to put that up. Neptune Stadium has been used in the past for similar purposes. Many other community centres, GAA clubs and sporting organisations are willing to offer their facilities for the vaccine roll-out on the north side. Will the Minister commit to a vaccine clinic being opened on the north side of Cork city?

SouthDoc in Blackpool was closed in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 crisis. I do not believe that was true; rather I believe SouthDoc used the crisis as a way to close down its services in Blackpool and Listowel. Will the Minister commit to making sure that SouthDoc reopens those facilities with a full service? The people of Cork North-Central need it.

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