Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. It is remarkable and a positive good news story that a vaccine is being rolled out. I am delighted. I did not imagine that only a few short months after becoming a Member of the Seanad I would be able to speak on the roll-out of a vaccine. I very much welcome that it is being rolled out. I welcome the significant amount of work that has been done to date with regard to long-term residents and front-line healthcare. There are several long-term residences in County Donegal, such as St. Shanaghan House. The youngest person in that facility is in their mid-50s, while the oldest resident is in her 90s. They share a corridor and the laundry room. It is very tough for older people and others to self-isolate and cocoon. If they get a few minutes to speak to one another, many of them will do so even though it is against the advice of the management. When we speak about care residents, we need to keep older people who are long-term residents in mind as well.

Although I welcome the roll-out of the vaccine, I wish to raise an issue relating to special needs assistants, SNAs. I used to be an SNA and I know the level of work that comes with the job, such as bringing children to the toilet, washing their hands and working with very vulnerable children and children with behavioural issues. One cannot practise social distancing while working as an SNA. I recommend that SNAs be moved into the category of care workers. Although SNAs stated last year that they are not care workers and we cannot expect them to be care workers, they do a lot of care work in their job and they help young and vulnerable children and children with special needs to reach their full potential in school. I do not think there is a single person in this House who would stand up and tell me that I am wrong and that they are not essential workers.

Teachers are key workers. Every child in this State has the right to an education. At present, the unions and the Department are discussing issues around teachers being vaccinated. I believe teachers should be moved up to the category of key workers. In that way, we would not be taking people out of categories but, rather, adding teachers and SNAs into those categories. All that is doing is valuing the work that SNAs and teachers do with children. We must remember that teachers and SNAs are not robots. Many of them have young children or loved ones at home who may be at risk. The sooner we get young children with additional needs back to school, the better. One way of doing that is to put teachers and SNAs further up the list for vaccination.

The Seanad Civil Engagement Group, of which I am a member, yesterday discussed the issue of developing countries. Although the vaccine is being rolled out here in Ireland, we need to be seen internationally to support developing countries. Senators are aware that Ireland has provided funding to the World Health Organization in respect of the COVAX initiative but I and my colleagues in the Civil Engagement Group hope that we can do more as a nation.

As many other Senators stated, when we talk about vaccines, we automatically think about them in a negative context, such as chicken pox, tuberculosis, polio and other serious illnesses that had significant impacts in the past. That is especially so for members of the Traveller community. Last night, a young Traveller man asked me whether the Traveller community will be used as guinea pigs in the vaccination programme. That actually makes me very sad because the Traveller community has been treated so badly by the State for many years. I know we are moving in a positive direction in terms of equality for the Traveller community.This young man told me he believes that members of the Traveller community are to be used as guinea pigs for the vaccination process. He believes that because of the misleading information that is circulating. Vulnerable groups take in this kind of information. I do not have to tell the Minister of State that Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all making billions of dollars a year in facilitating anti-vaccine promoters. We can get ahead of this situation with good advertising and Government investment in positive communications, especially for young people, those who are older and people from vulnerable communities.

Earlier, as Senator Clifford-Lee pointed out, I spoke about outbreaks of Covid-19 in halting sites and working-class areas, as well as in the migrant and homeless communities. Regarding the roll-out of the vaccine, I am sure the Minister of State has heard of the organisation Safetynet Primary Care. Last Wednesday, representatives of the organisation came out to a halting site in Ballyfermot and were able to kill two birds with the one stone. It was brilliant to have that service from Safetynet Primary Care, and its representatives were able to swab people to test for Covid-19 infections and give people a jab at the same time for hepatitis A. We must invest in these services provided by organisations such as Safetynet Primary Care to roll out the vaccine in the disadvantaged, migrant, homeless and Traveller communities.

One of my colleagues, Senator Ruane, works closely with Safetynet Primary Care and I know how vital that organisation is to marginalised communities. I also think, however, that we need political will and good, positive energy supporting this roll-out of the vaccine. We must get everybody involved, and this vaccination process is so important that we must start it at a community level and work from there. I have seen first-hand the type of work carried out and the services provided by the organisations I have referred to. They had built up relationships with people from marginalised communities even before the pandemic. We must value their work. The Department should invest in Safetynet Primary Care to enable the roll-out of the vaccine in all communities as soon as possible. That is one way of doing this.

Another point to note is that some areas do not have GPs. There is much we will need to discuss in the days ahead. I will not have enough time to discuss everything today, but one aspect is that some areas do not have a GP and people may have to go outside of their town to seek medical advice from a GP. When we talk about the roll-out of the vaccine, we must of course ensure that it is an equal process and that every person from every community will have an equal chance of getting vaccinated. We must also, before it grows any bigger, break down all the nonsense on social media from those who are anti-vaccination.