Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All is not well in County Louth. I know people from other counties are praising the Minister but there is a serious problem in County Louth. More than 7,000 people have not received their vaccination appointments at the appropriate time. The HSE is dealing with the matter. What will happen on Monday and Tuesday is that 7,000 people from County Louth will have to go to The Helix in Dublin to get their vaccination. I welcome that because they will get the Janssen vaccination, which is a one-shot vaccine, and within 14 days of getting it they should be fine and should not need a further vaccination.

The big issue is why it happened and what the Minister is going to go about it. Will he give the HSE the support it needs to increase the vaccination roll-out in Drogheda in particular? The Drogheda Institute of Further Education, DIFE, is a vaccination centre that currently operates only three days per week. Will the Minister increase the number of vaccinators and staff to ensure the centre can operate on six or seven days a week, which is what is needed? The key point is how the Minister can ensure that this issue will not arise again with other age cohorts.

It is unbelievable. It is not just the 7,000 in Louth but 4,000 people in County Meath have not got their vaccination appointments, and they will also be travelling outside the county to other locations, such as Mullingar, Athlone and Citywest in Dublin. Will the Minister give the commitment that people want? My office is inundated with complaints from angry constituents who are very upset that this is happening. The final insult to one person from Drogheda was yesterday, when he rang up the hotline to ask where his vaccination appointment was, only to be told, “You missed it yesterday. You failed to turn up down in Wexford, where it was there for you in a hotel.” That is unacceptable.

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