Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Would it be timely for us to have a debate on the ongoing progress of our vaccination programme against Covid-19, in particular, and of course with other vaccination programmes in mind as we enter the flu season? There are many important issues to discuss, such as the issue of the booster vaccine, the ethical question around the developing world and its need to access even first vaccines for its people and where we fit in and what kind of decisions we should be making as a first world country in regard to that. It would also be timely because of the controversy we hear these days about soccer players not taking the vaccination. I am thinking of Callum Robinson and the ongoing news story there. Speaking as somebody who chose to be vaccinated, there is a delicate balance to be reached. It is undeniable that we want people to take up the vaccine and it is more than legitimate for people in authority to propose this to people, such as soccer coaches and managers. There is, however, also a need to respect human freedom. Where we need to get in this area is to a culture of ethical and informed decision making by people. A person might refuse a vaccine because he or she subscribes to some conspiracy theory. Equally, he or she might refuse to take a vaccine because he or she has arrived at a personal decision about the ethics of the vaccine or issues of safety as he or she has made his or her judgment listening to whatever news is available to him or her, and that has to be respected. The tension is caught in the use of that phrase "herd immunity". On one level we want to get herd immunity but on another level, we have to realise that we can never be a herd. We are human beings, and that has to be respected throughout all of this.

I draw colleagues' attention to an information event. It is a webinar which I am hosting and which has been organised by the all-party Oireachtas life and dignity group on countering human trafficking in Ireland. All colleagues have received an invitation to it, and many will be joining, but there is still time to indicate interest. Sunniva McDonagh, a senior counsel and lawyer specialising in fundamental rights and a member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and Dr. Ewelina Ochab, a lawyer and international human rights advocate, will address us at 11 a.m. tomorrow. I mention it because we recently had the very welcome Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021 in this House. That is a necessary part of combatting the wider problem of human trafficking but I mentioned last week the sad fact of Ireland's very low ranking in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons report. It is appropriate that we should acknowledge the steps that have been taken by the Government in this area, the revision of the national referral mechanism to make it easier for victims of trafficking to come forward and so on. Progress is being made but we must keep our foot on the pedal. We are coming from behind on this issue, so I would encourage and welcome colleagues who might be interested in that webinar on countering human trafficking in Ireland to participate tomorrow.