Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Warfield as well. I have three requests today, the first of which relates to the vaccination programme. I ask the HSE to reopen the vaccination centres in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Munster Technological University and Clonakilty in County Cork and to redeploy staff to those centres. It makes no sense that those centres are closed in light of the fact that we are ramping up the programme relating to vaccine booster doses. I ask that the redeployment happen as a matter of urgency. I also that we work with community pharmacists and GPs. In the biggest county in Ireland, it makes no sense to have only two vaccination centres right now. I ask that the Minister for Health address this matter immediately.

My second request is regarding primary schools. I call on the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, to close primary schools on Friday. I do so for a number of reasons. One is that Covid-19 is running riot in our primary schools, whether it is through close contacts or actual physical cases. Absenteeism in primary schools is at an all-time high. I know of one instance where from a population of fewer than 700, there are 100 absent from the school. I ask this of the Minister in the interests of public health. We all know there will be intergenerational mixing over Christmas. To stop or limit the spread of Covid-19, I ask the Minister to close primary schools on Friday to allow for a planned reopening in January but also to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Primary schools are probably the one place where we have the most unvaccinated people, young people in particular, gathering at any one time, although they are wearing masks. I appeal to the Minister for Education to close primary schools on Friday next as a public health measure in order to support the good work being done by the Government and the HSE.