Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will pass on the Deputy's suggestion to the Minister for Health. There has not, to date, been a prioritisation given to any category of workers other than front-line health workers, including staff in nursing homes, who obviously had to be prioritised because there was an immediate threat to the lives of their patients if they were not vaccinated. Other than that, the prioritisation has been on the basis of age, which was appropriate. I am very glad that we now have an opportunity for younger people to get vaccinated. Our key priority must be to try, as the Taoiseach has been doing, to get as much international supply as possible into the State and get everyone vaccinated as quickly as we can. That would be Government priority, rather than differentiating on the basis of profession. As much as I can see the logic behind the Deputy's proposal regarding hospitality workers, I have not heard it discussed in the various meetings I have attended.

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