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

Regarding the points raised by Deputy Kelly, I welcome the agreement and there was a broad welcome at the European Council meeting at the end of last week for the EU digital Covid-19 certificate framework. From a European Union perspective, that is a significant achievement, given that it was only mooted in December last year. It was initially an idea proposed by the Greek Prime Minister and the Commission then took it on board. Ireland will operate the new digital certificate from 19 July for travel originating within the European Union and the EEA. It will be subject to the prevailing public health situation, but we intend to go ahead as we decided this week. We broadly align ourselves with the approach of the European Union regarding non-essential travel into the Union from third countries, including from the United Kingdom and United States. I think this will facilitate safe international travel in accordance with clear safety protocols and public health advice.

Turning to the matter of testing, the European Commission has provided supports regarding antigen testing. Different countries have different models. Deputy Kelly mentioned Denmark, which from the outset has been one of the countries with the highest capacity for testing. We are also best in class, with 120,000 tests conducted per week. We are now flexible in the context of our walk-in centres and self-referrals. All of those were open in the last week and that indicates that people themselves are cautious and taking precautions on their own initiative. I thought that was interesting and I got interesting figures in that respect this morning from the CEO of the HSE.

Moving on to the vaccination advice from the national immunisation advisory council, NIAC, we have approximately 100,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine in stock and we have some more additional vaccines as well. However, we want more visibility towards the end of July and in August. Regarding AstraZeneca, the current trend is that 300,000 doses came in yesterday, but those will be used for the those in the 60-to-69 age group and people who need a second dose. I understand that 25,000 doses are due in from AstraZeneca on 5 July. That is what we have visibility of. In addition, there will be more than 37,000 on 12 July. Following that, there will be approximately 500,000 doses, but we do not have visibility yet from AstraZeneca on the actual delivery schedule for the last two weeks of July. We must have visibility in that regard before we can make commitments concerning that delivery. If that was to transpire, however, it would have a significant impact on the vaccination programme. There would be a similar situation in the context of greater availability of Janssen vaccines. Equally, the model which has been developed with pharmacies has worked well with the Janssen vaccine. Therefore, it lends itself to rapid deployment in respect of the arrival of additional Janssen vaccines in the context of the advice we have received.

Deputy Haughey raised a pertinent point regarding treaty change and engaging with young people in respect of the Conference for Europe. I agree wholeheartedly with that and we need a debate in Ireland on our participation in Europe. We must energise younger generations regarding the European ideal, how it is the greatest peace project since the Second World War and its major achievements. In the context of international relations, Europe is the most progressive and advanced bloc in the world in respect of the humanitarian assistance it provides to many people. That was most recently manifested in the form of the vaccination programme, with more than 350 million vaccines exported from Europe across the world. We have not brought in protectionism or sought to stop such exports.

On the point concerning competencies, the memo which was referred to is not Government policy. Our policy is to be open to treaty change. I believe we must be open to it. Not all treaty change means a constitutional referendum either, by the way. In the area of public health, particularly, and given our experience during the pandemic, I am an advocate for greater competencies in that regard at European Union level, in respect of epidemiology, for example. I believe we need a European Union chief epidemiologist-----

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