Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand that, and I understand that the Minister of State is doing her best. We are, however, talking here about minimum prices for alcohol and other things that are irrelevant now. Government effort should be going into identifying vulnerable groups and essential services and restoring them as a matter of priority. That is what I am asking the Minister of State. I welcome the fact she followed up on it, but before I came in here I checked at 5 p.m. and Merlin Park Hospital has stopped respite care. Day care centres are not functioning in Galway, so we need clarification on this issue. I thank the Minister of State for that.

Turning to the roll-out of the vaccination programme, I believe the Minister has been put in a position where information is being segmented. I am not happy with that, and I do not blame the Minister for it. He is doing his best in this limited role. I think we need an overall discussion on this aspect. I was called disingenuous by the Taoiseach when I said this was not happening. I am repeating it is not happening. There are so many elements we cannot even get to discuss here. Vaccination is only part of it. Trust is an essential element, and I think that trust has been broken. I pay tribute to the people who nevertheless persist in believing in a system as best they can.

Regarding the age group from 60 years old to 69 years old, I have heard no apology from anybody. This issue has been raised by other Deputies today. For people to be told they are going to the bottom of the list is simply appalling and unacceptable. I use those words again and I hope I am using them with sufficient force so that the Minister might look at them. Regarding this age group, Professor Kingston Mills, at the end of April, pointed out, among many other things, that, "The Medical Council guidelines make it clear that recipients of medicines (including vaccines) have a right to make an informed choice and should be provided with all the information necessary for decision-making, including details on possible adverse reactions, efficacy and alternatives."

I am in a position as a Deputy where I am making representations to the HSE regarding a people having contacted me and wanting to be vaccinated but not wanting to have the AstraZeneca vaccine for very good reasons. Those people have nobody to discuss this issue with. I will not say they are at the mercy of their general practitioner. Some GPs are very good, but other GPs do a sales pitch for AstraZeneca and say there is no choice. That is unacceptable and it is no way to build confidence in the roll-out of the vaccination programme.

I have two other points to raise. One concerns temporary accommodation for healthcare workers. An issue has again arisen in Galway. It arose before, and RTÉ has raised the issue as well as Deputies. I refer to healthcare workers coming from direct provision centres, who are in temporary accommodation, and now they have been told they have to get out of that temporary accommodation. In fact, in Galway, in two cases, letters were received telling the people involved to get out by the end of July. They have not got out because they have no place to go. On the one hand, therefore, we are saying temporary accommodation is there for the duration of Covid-19 as long we have it and yet this aspect is being interpreted in a manner that is completely inconsistent and unfair when we really need healthcare workers.

The final matter I raise concerns the waiver of intellectual property rights in respect of vaccines. The Biden Administration has, finally, shown the way and that is very welcome. Our own President Michael D. Higgins has said that, "This decision marks a moment of immense moral significance in international policy, putting global need ahead of any narrow considerations." The Minister has said he is looking at this issue, and I welcome that. However, we are now a year and three months into the pandemic and this was something we should have looked at in the very beginning. Ireland should have been leading in this regard because, given our background, we knew we were all in this together. That is what we were told. Now, however, we have very upsetting scenes from India, which is producing and exporting vaccines while people are dying in the manner we are witnessing. My colleague, Deputy Joan Collins, raised this issue, I raised it and other colleagues have also raised it. We were laughed at regarding waiving intellectual property rights.

The point of the TRIPS Agreement waiver was to fill a gap in the market and encourage innovation. It is not possible to encourage innovation where there is too much risk and no demand. However, all those risks have been taken away. Why? It was because indemnity has been provided to all the pharmaceutical companies. We have taken away the risk factor and there is absolute demand. We are in a situation now where we are bolstering those companies' profits at the expense of human beings dying on the street. That is totally unacceptable. We should be leading the way. Our voice from this small country should be leading the way to say we should look at this issue. It is not good enough to tell us today it is not a panacea. I do not want a panacea. I do not want perfection. I want a country that is leading us with a voice of humanity and not for profit. If we are putting all our eggs in the one basket, which I disagree with because I think we need a multifaceted approach, then at the very least remove the profit element.

In my last six seconds, we had a very interesting Zoom meeting with representatives of the Cuban Government recently, which is in the process of producing five vaccines. This is my third time raising this issue with the Government. There is an embargo on Cuba. Can we imagine that, under an embargo and in a non-profit situation, five vaccines are being worked on in Cuba and one has come to fruition. There is a very low death rate in Cuba, and while any death is unacceptable, those deaths only happened when the country opened, foolishly and prematurely, as has been admitted.

See this speech in context