Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important that we discuss the current state of the pandemic. It is a crisis that has affected this country for the last 21 months. If Senators listened to the media outlets this morning they will have heard that new regulations are due to come forward, through the Cabinet, in the next few hours. This House should discuss the new regulations. We must discuss whether the regulations will stipulate how many people can socialise together, for example. We must come to grips with the impact these regulations will have on society and on Christmas.

There is a huge issue concerning the booster vaccine and its roll out. In Cork, there were six vaccination centres during the first roll out of vaccines but that number has been cut down to three centres. There is also no vaccination centre at the Munster Technological University campus, Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Clonakilty. It has been a mistake to limit the number of vaccination centres. There have been huge queues, particularly at the weekend, and people have had to wait up to three hours in City Hall. All of that has had a huge impact on people's ability to get the vaccination booster.

Let us consider the change in legislation. I refer to the fact that the period between the second vaccine and receiving a booster vaccine has been reduced from five months to three months. That is a huge issue now. People want to get the vaccine but the restricted number of vaccination centres is becoming an issue. We need to re-engage and bring forward plans to re-open these vaccination centres in the next week or ten days. That must be a key focus in terms of what happens today.

We need vaccination centres. It makes no sense to close the centre in Clonakilty. There is now only one vaccination centre in Bantry to meet the vaccination needs of the entire west Cork area and it only does walk-in appointments on a Sunday. The capacity and geographical issues need to be taken into consideration. There needs to be a rethink so we need to know how many centres exist, who mans them and how long they are open. That information will help us to get the throughput of people through the vaccination centres. We have a significant problem in conveying the vaccination message to the people who want to be vaccinated, need to be vaccinated and have an opportunity to get a vaccine.

It is important that people can be vaccinated at the appropriate time.The step taken in respect of the three-month issue is of considerable importance. We have limited the time between the second and third shots. While we need to start to promote people to come in to get that as soon as we can, if they see three-hour queues, they will not do it. That is becoming an issue for us. Announcements are coming today which will be somewhat restrictive. We need to revisit the capacity issue in order that we can get these booster shots done.