Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Mandatory hotel quarantine was due to lapse very shortly on 7 June and we are here today to extend the relevant legislation until 31 July. We have seen how important the quarantine system has been, with potentially 59 cases identified. The figures do not include asymptomatic cases, which account for between 30% and 40% of all Covid-19 cases. There has been a fall in the detection of variants of concern since we introduced mandatory hotel quarantine. Mandatory hotel quarantine was introduced because we were in a very vulnerable position and we have reduced the risk. The system was about keeping people safe and healthy and it was very important to introduce it at the time.

I note that the Minister has removed France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the USA from the list. I have received representations from organic farmers who would typically use seasonal workers, including students, in the summer so the removal of the aforementioned countries from the list has been very important to them. As my party's Seanad spokesperson on education I am very happy to see that the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will cover the costs for any Erasmus+ students who have to enter mandatory hotel quarantine.

The Government's vaccination roll-out programme has seen 2.7 million vaccines administered already, equating to half of the adult population. This is absolutely incredible, particularly given everything that the HSE has been through recently. The fact that the Covid-19 vaccination programme was kept separate from the rest of the HSE has meant that it was not so negatively impacted by the HSE cyberattack. The HSE email system is still not working.I have a question about the unique health identifier number allocated to individuals, which was mentioned briefly. We are able to use the vaccination roll-out as a way to drive that system forward. The Minister's Department allocated major funds to information technology, particularly in the health sector, and it is very needed. Where I worked previously we were always fighting to have electronic health records and now they are examining sharing care records and how that can be brought forward. I would appreciate if the Minister would comment on that.

The Minister mentioned that from 19 July we will operate a digital Covid certificate for aviation. That will be crucial. We have heard many times from the groups affected, and everyone has seen them protesting outside the House. The impact of the pandemic on their incomes has been shocking. By doing this we will have a chance to get that sector of our economy back up and running.

I acknowledge the work the Minister, his Department and officials are doing and thank him for giving of his time. We are all looking forward to getting our vaccine and moving into a safer place. I thank the Minister and the teams in the HSE for achieving that.