Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome back to the House. I will start, as I did this morning at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health, by acknowledging the success of the vaccination programme. I commend the Minister, his team within the HSE and the Department of Health and, most important, the Irish people, as well as, in some instances, the mothers and fathers who persuaded younger persons in particular of the importance of taking up the vaccine to protect themselves and others. The success of the vaccination programme has been acknowledged in worldwide league tables.

I have always acknowledged that the issue all along was the supply of vaccines. All present are aware of the current situation in New Zealand and Australia that has resulted from a mixture of hesitancy and the non-prioritisation or non-supply of vaccination. We are lucky to have had the power of the European Union behind us in that regard. Despite a slow start, it came through in terms of supply of the Covid vaccine, so well done to all involved in that.

I welcome the decisions relating to mandatory hotel quarantine. I do not think anybody, not even the Minister, was overly supportive of the initiative but it was a necessary measure at the time. The Delta variant has now spread worldwide and it was very much evident in Ireland. Most important, the success of the vaccination programme has negated the need for mandatory hotel quarantine. It is a chapter of this saga that has ended and I welcome that.

The legislation relates to the extension of emergency powers to January of next year. These are powers that I am sure the Minister hopes will not be needed and does not expect to use. However, it is important to have them in place in case they are required. As they say, "fail to prepare, prepare to fail". It is a precautionary measure as recommended by the team in NPHET, which has been proven to have given proper advice in all its various interventions in the past year. Although the advice was not always politically welcome or welcomed by the public, it was necessary and has proven to be correct, so we have to respect it. Out of an abundance of caution, we must ensure these measures are available and can be easily put in place if required. As I stated, we all hope they will not be required.

The flu vaccine is an issue related to that of vaccine uptake. Ireland has a strong record in the context of the flu vaccine, particularly among older people. One could argue that a lack of hand hygiene and cough etiquette, such as shaking hands and so on, was a vector for spreading infection pre Covid. That is important. I urged from the start that there be strong messaging on this issue. People have been in close contact, whether at funerals or various other events. I hope that does not stop, but the use of antibacterial and antimicrobial hand sanitisers and the like will be very important and should be continued. I would like those products to continue to be available in shops, supermarkets, churches and at funerals or wherever there are large crowds gathering. I encourage everyone to use them. It is particularly important that they be available for those who wish to do so. That should continue in an effort to combat the spread of infectious disease, particularly flu, which can be debilitating and life-threatening, particularly for older people. I ask the Minister to ensure the Department continues to look at messaging on that issue and to roll out guidelines or messaging relating to the flu season that are similar to those rolled out in the past 18 months in the context of Covid. That would have a very positive effect in the context of flu prevention. Members are aware of the number of people who appeared in accident and emergency departments pre Covid, particularly in January, suffering from flu. Prevention and messaging in the context of maintaining proper cough etiquette, hand hygiene and hand sanitisation are important aids in preventing the annual surge that takes place every January. They are probably as useful as many of the more expensive measures needed to treat flu. Prevention is more important.

I again acknowledge the work the Minister, his Department and the HSE have done. I wish him well on this measure.