Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to Deputy Canney's point on LEADER, I will engage with the Minister again to see what can be done. With regard to the TAP scheme, the vaccination programme has been very effective in nursing homes and very effective overall in terms of those aged over 65. The prospect has been raised that if we have very high volumes of infection as a result of the Delta variant in the non-vaccinated population, it would feed through and break through the vaccine protective wall. We will be keeping a very close eye on this. As I have said, an outbreak assistance payment will continue to be made available until the end of the year as a support for any nursing home that experiences a Covid-19 outbreak. Other supports have continued. To be fair, approximately €134 million has been made available under TAPS between 2020 and 2021. The HSE has given very strong supports to the nursing home sector over the past while.

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