Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the redress and compensation scheme, the Minister will remember the report that was done by Mr. Justice Charles Meenan about medical negligence generally. One of its recommendations was that a no-fault compensation scheme would be set up. Does the Minister remember that? Has he ever pondered that, thought about it or come back to us on it?

We have heard a Member - I think it was one of the Fianna Fáil backbenchers - praise Pfizer and the pharmaceutical companies for the wonderful work they have done and for the power of private companies to come up trumps. They did not make a mention of the public money. We still do not know how much it has cost. We do not know the nature of the deal. However, we do know that an indemnity has been given to them forever and ever. There has not been a single word of discussion about that little deal. Again, the Government will tell us that it was Europe that did that, just like it did with the regulations saying there are only six months' immunity and not nine months. These are basic things we should be discussing in the House. Maybe the Minister could tell us tonight, and if he cannot tell us tonight, maybe, when he is sending me the details of the regulation that says we can only give six months' immunity for someone who had Covid-19 and not nine months and he has dealt with that paragraph, he might come back to the deal with the pharmaceutical companies. How much public money has been given and to which companies?

I will draw to a close as I will not go over time. I have outlined the discrimination between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, the discrimination between who could get which vaccination and the discrimination between young and old. Then, there is the ultimate discrimination between us in Ireland, a rich country that has 92% of its population vaccinated, and all the other countries that have not even one dose of the vaccination. The Minister might explain that to us. He might explain what discussion has taken place about waiving the intellectual property right so that we can all benefit and truly all of us be in it together. He might explain to us how, with a figure of 92% or 94% vaccinated, depending on which Minister or which Taoiseach is talking, we could have such high rates of transmission if the vaccination is so effective. Maybe we could have some honesty about the waning effectiveness of vaccination. Maybe we could have some honesty about telling people to go out, drink, eat and be merry while there are no day centres and no respite. Maybe the Minister can tell us how people can go out and drink when there are transmission rates from vaccination. As I understand it, the vaccination is to prevent hospitalisation and getting sick, but it does not prevent transmission. How does the Minister explain all of those contradictory messages and tell us we are all in it together? I go back to the word “moronic”.

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