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

We cannot go back to that situation where our schools were closed for a prolonged time and our leaving cert students were in a state of uncertainty. I do not believe we will. We are in a very different place now. As difficult as the situation is at the moment, it is completely different to where we were last January, last October or any other period where our hospital system really was exposed. It is less so now because of the vaccination programme. The addition of a booster programme will give us real ability to avoid the sort of lockdown measures that were required at the early stages in this Covid pandemic.

I see no reason or expectation that we should have to revert back to that level of restrictions or those sorts of concerns.

Regarding the booster programme, without any disrespect and with real recognition of the critical work our schools, front-line teachers and pupils have done, I do not believe it would be appropriate to start diverting from the strategy our vaccination programme has followed. It has been hugely successful and has maintained public support. We might risk losing some of that if we started to divide between professions regarding who will get boosters next. I do not think that would make sense.

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