Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I do not have any personal experience of getting the vaccine yet. I hope I will have that experience soon. I can speak very highly of my dad's experience. The first time we talked about vaccines in the House after Christmas, I recalled how my father and his friend, who are both hard of hearing, roared down the phone at each other about getting the vaccine. They are both long vaccinated now. As I said last week, there is certainly a lot more spring in people' step. They are looking forward.

I agree with Senator Clifford-Lee that it is a great shame we are not getting the real-time updates on the vaccine roll-out because people really want to know how it is getting along and what is happening. The cyber attack is a shame for many reasons, but that is particularly the case because it is detracting away from what is good news at a time when we are all desperate for good news. I welcome the pace at which the programme is progressing. I raised concerns a few weeks ago about the older people who had been cocooning. I also raised the issue at the Joint Committee on Health. I must say all of those who contacted me have had their issues resolved and have been vaccinated since then. There is a great sense of positivity in my area.

I do not want to go down the road of claiming the whole system has fallen apart because I know of someone who has fallen through the cracks. However, I ask the Minister to provide an update on the situation in respect of the homeless and those in shared accommodation who are facing homelessness. A few people have contacted me. They are registering through the vaccine portal system. It seems to me they are very vulnerable to contracting Covid in shared accommodation or when they are moved from one accommodation to another for whatever reason.I am wondering if the Minister has an update on that.

We are talking about September and that deadline is creating a little concern. Many third level students have had a year and a half away from campuses and when they are hearing that it is not entirely certain whether they will be going back in September, that causes a lot of stress for them. I know this is matter is also the responsibility of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science but I wonder if the Minister has any thoughts on that and on how it will play out. Students are keen to get back onto campus, as are many lecturers.

We are talking about the reopening of the tertiary economy and we have to be aware of the fact that many of the workers in that sector are of an age whereby they will not be vaccinated even possibly before the reopening of the economy. Whatever one's opinion of the scenes on South William Street at the weekend, the fact remains that there is a large cohort of society that has been locked up for 15 months. Many of them have been working in essential front-line and front-facing roles and they will be key workers in reopening society. Members might bear in mind that many people who will be participating in the reopening of society will not have been vaccinated yet and they will only be getting into the vaccination process in July and August.

A person has written to me about Erasmus+ and exchange students. Hopefully, we will have many students going away on Erasmus+ and exchanges this September. They will be required to fly out in August in order to attend their orientation and there are a number of colleges or universities which have stated that Covid-19 vaccinations will be a requirement for all students and staff to be on campus and that they are planning full in-person return to campuses. We are talking about a cohort of those aged 18 to 24 who might not be getting their vaccines until well into July and then we are looking at four weeks after that for the second dose. There will possibly be a cohort of exchange and Erasmus+ students who have already spent a lot of time and money preparing, winning scholarships and all these other important things in order to be able to avail of Erasmus+ or exchange opportunities. Those students may not be able to go and if they are able to go they will either have to travel even earlier and try to sort out accommodation in order to quarantine or they will travel over at the time when they already have their flights booked and will perhaps have to miss the first two weeks or orientation for their new semester in their institutions abroad. Has that matter been raised with the Minister's office? Does he have any thoughts on how that will be dealt with? It is only something I became aware of today; otherwise I would not be landing it on the Minister right now. It is an issue we need to consider. As I said, those students have been through a lot during the past 18 months or so. I would hate to see Erasmus+ or exchange students missing out on this opportunity of a lifetime because they are going to fall into the age cohort which will be getting the vaccines later on and, therefore, that could lock them out of part of their exchange or at least out of availing of opportunities at the beginning.