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

I again put on the record of the House the Government's deep appreciation for all those in the emergency services who are doing so much across the country to protect life and limb, especially in the south west at the moment, in helping our communities to cope through Storm Barra. Our emergency services, ESB staff, council employees and community workers are all doing so at considerable personal risk and I pay tribute to the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre for the preparatory work it has been engaged in for well over the past week, planning and preparing for what is a very challenging, difficult and varied storm. To the members of that team, we owe an awful lot indeed.

On the situation pertaining to Covid, putting aside all the noise and the attempts to undermine or attack the Government, which is a legitimate position from the Opposition if it wants to pursue that road, the most important collective message we as a House can give to people today is to take their booster vaccine when they are offered it. Vaccination, more than anything else, is protecting people against severe illness, hospitalisation and admission to ICUs. The booster vaccination jabs have been shown to produce very strong antibody responses and are likely to provide protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death from most variants, including Delta and Omicron.

The reason I am saying this is that in the week commencing 22 November, 208,000 appointments were offered, of which about 80,000 turned up. Last week, of 180,000 appointments, 93,000 turned up. The same urgency does not seem to be there in respect of availing of the option to take the booster as was there when we were offered the first and second doses. In the over-75 group, where people have been taking up the offer of a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in high numbers, we are seeing a significant reduction in the incidence of the disease, so it does work. The booster vaccines will have a really significant impact on Delta. I cannot stress that enough. It is the one message I want to get across today, above and beyond everything else to do with Covid-19.

On ventilation and our schools, the Minister for Education has at all times adhered to expert advice in respect of ventilation. While it may at times be tempting to lampoon the idea of fresh air, the number one item on that expert advice is that, where possible, fresh air is the most effective form of ventilation. Of course, that has limitations in the context of cold and inclement weather. The Minister for Education has provided substantial resources to schools and will continue to do so. Schools will be in a position, if they wish and if it is suitable, to buy HEPA filters for classrooms, but I point out the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, SAGE, the expert body in the UK, on HEPA filters.

It is saying there is a need for better data on real-world application to support these technologies. It may be a viable solution in spaces where it is difficult to provide good ventilation. SAGE is saying that a lot of the application of filters will depend on the configuration of rooms and certain situations.

The point I would make is this. I have noticed throughout the course of the pandemic that, every now and again, someone comes up with the magic solution. Invariably, there is no one magic silver bullet to deal with Covid. It is a combination of efforts and, right now, it seems to me, from looking at the data, that the most effective thing we can do out there is to encourage people to take their booster vaccine when it is offered.

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