As the Tánaiste knows, I have been asking this week a number of questions on the rolling out of vaccines and our proposals in this regard. I have been doing so in a non-political way, maybe to dial up our preparations for this collectively. The Irish Times reports today that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, is bringing a memo to the Government next Tuesday on who will be prioritised for vaccination. I understand the Tánaiste briefed his parliamentary party in this regard. However, the Taoiseach said to me on Tuesday and Wednesday that we would have to wait for the report of the expert review group on Friday. Therefore, I am confused. Which date is it? Who is leading on this? Will we know about priorities on Tuesday or will it be on Friday, from the MacCraith expert report? The Cabinet subcommittee is rightly making decisions but so too are the MacCraith expert group, the National Immunisation Office, which does fantastic work, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, NPHET, the HSE and, obviously, the Department. I am re-stressing a question: who is in control? Who is making the decisions? Who has seniority as regards decision-making? It has to be the Cabinet but we are all aware of the issues that arose when both NPHET and the Government made statements. I have just mentioned a long list of groups that all have a massive role to play, but we must not have confusion. We need one person in charge. I repeat that to the Tánaiste today.

I have asked a plethora of questions but I want to focus on three. About a year and a half ago, there was quite a lot of controversy over the public service card and related issues and concerns. How are we going to manage data with respect to vaccines? The only unique identification code is the PPS number. Hanging off that, in a new database that will have to be built, presumably through the National Immunisation Office, will be a large amount of information on underlying illnesses and personal details. Are we prepared for that? Is new, emergency legislation required?

Second, if a company such as Intel decides privately that it is going to buy the vaccine to give it to its workers, will it be allowed to do so? This goes for any company; I just picked one out of the air. The issue is one of public versus private. Should vaccination not be based on need rather than whether someone can pay for it? Do we need legislation on this? Will the State control how the vaccine is given out? That is an important question.

Public health officials must play a massive role in the roll-out of the vaccination programme but they are going on strike on 14 January, 21 January and 22 January because their pay is 48% less than that of consultants. How is the Government going to deal with this considering the role they will have in the roll-out of the vaccination programme over the next few months? I would appreciate it if the Tánaiste answered those questions.

Those are valid and good questions and I do not necessarily have answers to them all. The Deputy deserves answers to them and I will make sure he gets them. To answer the questions I can answer, the Government is in control. The Cabinet is in control and makes decisions based on advice, as it should. The Minister for Health is the lead Minister when it comes to the vaccine programme, as he is for every other vaccine programme and as he should be.

The task force will report on 11 December, I believe. It is chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith. It is in charge of purchases, delivery, administration, IT systems, communication and all such things associated with the vaccine. It is a really good group and there is no better person than Professor MacCraith to be head of it. Everyone is at the table, including officials from my Department and IDA Ireland because of our engagement with industry and the companies that developed and made the vaccine.

As far as I know — I am fairly sure of this — prioritisation is not a matter for the task force; it is a matter for the National Immunisation Advisory Committee. That is the body that makes these kinds of decisions on other vaccines. We expect a report from it very soon on the order of prioritisation. I do not believe it will be rocket science. Everyone understands that those who will be prioritised include those who need the vaccine the most, including healthcare workers, because they are at greater risk and because there is a risk that they will spread the virus to patients, and residents of nursing homes, those who are older and those with chronic diseases. Logically, for reasons I do not need to explain to anyone in this House, those are the groups that will be prioritised. Perhaps people who work in high-risk environments, such as meat factories, will be also prioritised.

There will be no charge for the vaccine. It will be paid for through taxation. It will be ensured that those who need it the most get it first. We have an option for purchase already with five or six of the companies that have developed the vaccine. We are also providing an indemnity to companies, which we must do given that this is a very new vaccine. We are indemnifying the companies that produce it, as are other member states.

I do not know what private enterprises intend to do. I am aware that they sometimes buy the flu vaccine and provide it as a benefit to their staff. This is unlikely on this occasion, first of all because they have not entered into pre-purchase agreements with the production companies. The Deputy should bear in mind that private enterprises would not be covered by the State indemnity and would be taking on the risk themselves. If the Deputy’s question is whether we should make it illegal for companies to buy the vaccine for their staff, we have not considered that yet.

I thank the Tánaiste. I appreciate his honesty. We do need to decide because private vaccination is an issue. Considering that we must control the process by which the vaccine programme is rolled out, my question is very legitimate. I would appreciate it if it were considered by the Government because it would require legislation.

On data management, we may need emergency legislation. We will support it. The Dáil will be sitting for only one more week this year. Is there an issue, therefore? The data being collated will be intense. We have had issues with data in the past. Will the Tánaiste please consider this?

The Tánaiste is the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I hear on the radio in the morning that many events are being planned. Longitude is being planned. I am sure the Tánaiste and I would like to get to concerts sometime next year. What advice has the Tánaiste for companies that are spending a considerable amount on planning events? Should they expect them to go ahead?

I thank the Deputy. On the issue of companies providing the vaccine privately, it is a matter we will have to examine. We certainly would not want it to undermine in any way our programme of vaccination, which will be free of charge and based on need. It might be the case, however, that the company that produces the vaccine will want to vaccinate its own staff. We would have to think long and hard about preventing it from doing so considering that it developed the vaccine.

On whether legislation will be needed for the vaccine database, I do not know the answer. I will check it out. Secondary legislation, rather than primary legislation, may be required. If it is primary, it will have to come to the House soon. I will certainly raise that with the Minister for Health, if not immediately, by the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The Deputy is correct that there are now tickets on sale for some major events that we all hope will go ahead next summer. My advice is that there is no guarantee that those events will go ahead. It might be some time yet before we can attend matches, concerts and mass gatherings. I hope it will be possible in the summer. That is far from sure at this point. Under the law, it is possible for companies organising events to cancel and reschedule them. They do not have to refund the cost of a ticket. People buying a ticket should be aware that they are not guaranteed a refund. They might find the event is rescheduled.