Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for all those questions. On the housebound, the National Ambulance Service is doing a huge amount of work. As the Deputy will be aware, we worked with the HSE to increase the capacity available. The ambulance fleet that is directly allocated to this has been doubled and additional personnel were put in place to support the administration of the programme as well. The Deputy specifically asked about a constituent of his who is under 70. The Deputy's constituent needs to work with her local GP. The GP then needs to refer her and state that the patient is housebound. There are cases where the National Ambulance Service can provide the service. If the Deputy wants to provide me or the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, with the details of that person, we will look into that for him.

On pregnant women, I share the Deputy's sense of urgency and I know there are pregnant women all over the country who are saying that NIAC has made this recommendation and are asking when they will see it implemented. The HSE is working through this. I know the Deputy will appreciate that many additional recommendations came through from NIAC. We are working through them, as is the HSE. We want to see the referral pathways and protocols put in place as soon as possible and the HSE is working through that.

The third question was on vaccine centres. There are 30 centres operational and there will be 38 in operation in total. There are several vaccine centres in the Cork area. For anyone over 70, they can access a vaccine through their GPs. Pharmacists will also play a role. For people who are mobile, they can take a trip across a city to a vaccination centre to avail of these incredibly effective vaccines, which are free to everybody to use, to vaccinate themselves against a global pandemic.

Anyone I have been talking to has said that if they need to travel for half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour or a bit longer because they have been told that they get to go to a vaccine centre and be protected from this global pandemic with some of the most effective vaccines that have ever been created provided for free, particularly in the context of a lockdown, they are saying they will get in the car and go. However, it is worth reiterating that for those aged over 70s the GP network has been available. For people who cannot leave their homes the National Ambulance Service will be involved.

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