Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ward talked about two of our MEPs and their views on Taiwan and the Uyghur peoples. I concur with all he has said. Clare Daly was here during the recent debate with MEPS. There will be an opportunity in February for the Munster MEPS to address the House. Perhaps Mick Wallace will appear at that point. Ultimately, like all practising politicians, they stand before the electorate, are judged by it and what happens happens.

Senator Dolan talked about communities. We know the power of communities coming together to celebrate Christmas. It is wonderful to hear about the initiatives to which she referred. The funding for training of education and bridging the digital divide that was announced in recent weeks has been welcomed and there has been additional funding for DEIS schools compared with other schools. That is extremely important.

Senators McDowell and Conway talked about the booster campaign. It is going slower than one would have imagined. Unlike the start of the first campaign when the problem was clearly supply of vaccines, we are now told supply is not the issue. It is just about ramping up delivery. On one hand, it is not right that people are queueing for long periods; on the other, it is good to see the huge level of interest in getting the third dose of vaccine. The Senators are right that it could be rolled out more efficiently.

Regarding the committee, that would have to be considered. I will bring it to higher levels of Government. The original special committee was established before this House was fully constituted in the interregnum between the election and the formation of the Government, and before the Oireachtas committees were up and running. There was an all-party committee chaired by Deputy McNamara, who did a tremendous job, putting in a lot of work over summer 2020 during the initial response to Covid. Whether there is an appetite to go back to that or not is uncertain. The argument for disbanding the committee was, first, that it had done much work and possibly had fulfilled its role and, second, that the sectoral committees would fill the vacuum.