Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everything we do in this House has to be predicated on human rights. It is very difficult to bring through legislation that in any way impacts on civil liberties, but the reality is that we are in a health emergency. We are in a pandemic the likes of which has not occurred previously in our lifetime or that of previous generations. As I understand it, the last pandemic dates back over 100 years. Hopefully, it will be a long time before this occurs again. I believe the Irish people understand the reasons for this measure. They show that in their actions and in terms of the number of people who have availed of the vaccine. It is great that an increasing number of people are taking the booster vaccine.

My only criticism of Government is as I outlined on the Order of Business yesterday. On 30 November I called for all of the resources of the State to be deployed to ensure that as many booster vaccines as possible would be administered in the quickest time possible. That is now happening this week. We have learned from this pandemic that whatever happens in the UK, we are only a few days or a week at most away from it. What was happening in the UK towards the end of November was a signpost to us that we needed to act quickly. We should have instructed our pharmacies, particularly in places such as Portumna and Ennistymon where I come from, to open on Sundays to facilitate people. People would be happy to travel to get the booster.We need to bring back retired people who are in a position to give vaccines, and we need to use the Defence Forces where practical and possible. The call that took place yesterday with the 2,000 GPs should have happened two or three weeks ago. We were behind the curve, unfortunately, instead of being front and centre leading the charge. While the members of NIAC are great people, they are conservative and cautious and they need to be adventurous and liberal with this. I know they are doing their best and medical people are cautious by nature but this is a runaway train and we have to try to keep up with it. This legislation is important. All the points have been made at this stage so we will just let it pass through.