Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his considered response which is greatly appreciated. I know that he will raise it at senior level with the HSE. I believe regional officials in the HSE in the north east understand the requirement for such a centre in the area. I repeat again that I am not making a narrow, local, parochial case for my own home town. It is an observable fact that Drogheda is the largest town in the country and that it has consistently featured at or near the top of the charts of areas most adversely affected since the pandemic hit our shores in early 2019. The evidence is there. We know from experience elsewhere that the countries which best deal with the challenge that faces through Covid-19 are those that ensure contact tracing and testing centres are available where people live. Accessibility is key. I have dealt with countless cases over the past number of months of people who do not have transport and who are embarrassed that the very busy National Ambulance Service is mobilised to go to a home to test somebody because he or she cannot make it to the testing centre in Ardee. It also causes great disruption to people’s lives. I can share many cases with the Minister of State of people in very vulnerable situations who could not go for a test as recently as last week because they did not have transport or access to a test in their own locality.

That needs to be reviewed urgently and I repeat again the requirement for a community vaccination centre in the area. The 50 to 60-year-old cohort in the area were, I am afraid to say, left behind last April and May. That cannot happen again and if we are to be successful with the our national vaccine booster programme, we also need not just testing centres in areas where people live and where the population is most concentrated, but we also need community vaccination centres.

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