Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Deputy raised the issue of Louth with me previously. We have looked into it. As he will be aware, the Drogheda centre opened late last week and is operating as an additional centre as required. That will help with many of the issues the Deputy has raised. The latest information I got when I looked into this matter for the Deputy was that, as of Tuesday, 25 May, vaccination was broadly complete for the 50- to 69-year-old group. That was their first dose. As per my response to the previous contributor, I concede that the delivery of the vaccination programme has not been perfectly even throughout the country, which is something we would always like to see. It is important, however, that when the Deputy and others raised the issue, we flagged it with the HSE, which responded with additional doses, capacity and centres.

I acknowledge the work the Deputy has done. It is very welcome and the issue is obviously important. The Deputy's constituents will see there has been a good response and the vaccination programme is moving quickly through the age cohorts.

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