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

The Deputy said the Government’s Covid-19 response in general was haphazard and chaotic. I would like to put that comment in context. More than 8.1 million vaccines have been administered in Ireland. We have the highest vaccination rate in the European Union, with 93.4% of the adult population fully vaccinated. The executive director today of the European Medicines Agency, EMA, outlined how Ireland has the highest vaccination rate in Europe and stated:

...the deaths per 1 million population over the last 14 days were 15. But in two other European countries with vaccination rates of less than 50% the equivalent death rates were over 250 per 1 million of [its] population.

I respectfully suggest to the Deputy that this country and this Government's performance on vaccination is anything but chaotic and haphazard. The plan this week is to administer 220,000 to 240,000 primary vaccines and, of course, the booster vaccine. Already, 800,000 booster vaccines have been administered.

Some 212,000 free lab tests were completed in the past seven days. This is the highest volume of lab tests completed to date in a seven-day period. Approximately 1.1 million tests have been conducted in the past six weeks. Total expenditure on testing and tracing during the pandemic is at approximately €846 million. Since 28 October, 93,346 - and it is closer to 100,000 as of today - close contacts have used antigen tests. We have sent out 100,000 free antigen tests to close contacts. Antigen testing of close contacts in schools has commenced and 8,000 were dispatched yesterday alone, all free of charge.

Yes, we did engage with leading retailers to achieve a price target of between €2 to €3 for antigen tests. In our view, if one takes, for example, the serial testing, which is also free, in respect of agriculture, where well over 100,000 free tests have been used in food production centres, and in universities and the third level sector, which have been using free antigen tests, we have a very targeted and effective approach. This also applies to the quality of the test where there are established tests that the major multiples adhere to. The European Commission has published a guide and has given advice to member states on the range of quality tests that are currently on the market.

The broader picture, as the Deputy knows, is that the public health authorities have not been as enthusiastic as she is I support the position on the use of antigen testing. Where we are now is a very significant advance on where we were previously during the pandemic.

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