Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State has heard many important contributions. I will start with some words of appreciation to all the front-line workers who are working so hard in our healthcare services and, in particular, all the people who are working hard to get people vaccinated as soon as possible. We very much appreciate their efforts.

I wish to draw the Minister of State's attention to a particular category of people. I am hearing concerns that, with the best will in the world, a significant number of elderly or vulnerable people could fall through the cracks without anybody meaning it to happen. I refer to the almost 7,000 members of religious orders in Ireland. Not many people would know that many elderly people in religious life are living in groups in congregated settings which are not HIQA-regulated settings and may or may not come under the Nursing Homes Ireland umbrella.I heard from one such group recently in a case involving what is effectively a care home being run with 24 elderly persons, with an average age of well over 80, within a campus of 65 people with an average age of 80. They are not, however, on the HIQA-regulated list. They do not want to jump any queue. They would like to know whether they will be forgotten. They should be in the same category as regulated nursing homes. In that context, I drew the Minister's attention to the matter, and I know they have written to the Minister. I also know that the Association of Leaders of Missionary and Religious in Ireland, AMRI, has written to the head of the vaccination task force and to the relevant authorities to draw attention to the fact that there are thousands of religious, many of whom are elderly at this stage, as we all know, and many of whom have underlying conditions, and the need to be aware of them. Certainly, at the time of the Covid outbreak there was a lack of awareness about the situation of religious who were not in regular nursing homes. We saw what happened with nursing homes earlier last year when people did not move fast enough and did not have the knowledge, the stitch in time that saves nine. I am drawing the Minister of State's attention to the fact that there may be at least one institution, and there are probably several, that would qualify as residential nursing homes but which are not HIQA-regulated. We are also talking about a situation in which there might be a wing of a convent, let us say, where there might be six or seven religious. There might be somebody coming in from Sodexo or some other care provider, multi-skilled people providing everything from nutrition to sensitive personal care.

I have two questions on two issues. Is it clear that people who are working, if one likes, as private healthcare providers, going from one place to another, are in the front line? Are they on the high tier? That is the first issue. The Minister was not terribly clear about that in the House last week. As for the situation of the religious, can something be done to make sure that people do not fall between the cracks because they are not in accommodation that is on the list of HIQA-regulated nursing homes? I will happily supply details of at least one such setting but I know there may be more. I would argue that where perhaps three or more people over 65 are gathered, where there may be underlying healthcare conditions, but even if there are not, and where there are a sufficiently large number of people gathered, it would make sense to vaccinate early. That is especially the case if there are carers coming in from an organisation or individual carers moving from one setting to another. I am really anxious that attention be given to this. I know they have written the letters, but so far there has not been the reassurance. I stress that they do not want to jump any queue; they just want to make sure they take their place with others in their category who, because they are in HIQA-regulated settings, have already been vaccinated. A date is of tremendous consolation to people. They are not saying they have to have the vaccination tomorrow, but people would be tremendously reassured if they could be given a message that we know about them and they will not be overlooked or fall down the list of tiers and they will get a vaccination probably by a certain date. That message is of tremendous importance to a person who is elderly or vulnerable, and that side of the operation needs to be minded.

I wanted to put that to the Minister of State. As I said, people are not looking for special treatment. They are actually very self-conscious these days, given the climate they are in, in that they would not want to be seen to look for special treatment. It is very important, however, that people do not fall through the cracks simply because they did not come within the bureaucratic definition, for want of a better phrase. I would be very grateful if the Minister of State could either respond to this concern today or take it away and get a Government response to me and to the Seanad as early as possible.