I raise the decision taken by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, as party leaders, to award a pay increase of €81,000 to the incoming Secretary General of the Department of Health. How on earth does the Taoiseach regard that as appropriate at a time when so many people's incomes have collapsed, when the Government is taxing pandemic unemployment payments, PUP, and has come up with a proposal for a measly, miserly €100 allowance per student nurses? In that context, how does the Government have no problem splashing the cash for Ministers of State, special advisers and now for senior civil servants when it comes up with nothing but tough luck for all those outside the Government's cosy circle? Can we please have an explanation from the Taoiseach as to why that decision was taken and the rationale for it? Will he confirm that he did sign off on it? Above all else, can he express an understanding that it is necessary to reverse that decision and tell us how we will go about that?

The Government decided on this in respect of the post of Secretary General for the Department of Health given the enormous transformation that is required in our health service over the next number of years. Without doubt, it is the largest spending Department, which has had an extraordinary allocation again this year of an additional €4 billion. If we take one project, such as the National Children's Hospital, which now costs close to €2 billion-----

Do not mention that issue, it is not going to improve anyone's mood.

That is the point. This Department, and I am not going to-----

It speaks to waste.

That predates me, but it speaks to the need to change how the Department of Health is structured and organised. Good reform has been happening within the Health Service Executive. The Department of Health, without question, needs a special focus over the next while to bring through Sláintecare, a universal healthcare system, to get value for money for the extraordinary allocations of funding made by this Government to help in that regard and to deal with all of what that entails.

I am sorry, we cannot have a long debate on this matter. I call Deputy Ó Ríordáin.

On that, we are not suggesting that the new Secretary General of the Department of Health should be paid nothing. The Taoiseach, however, does expect student nurses and midwives to be paid nothing.

On the matter of vaccinations, because this is an important issue, the Taoiseach is battling against misinformation, not just from the Internet but from within his own party on certain occasions, regarding the weekday-only roll-out of vaccinations, which is not true. Members of the Opposition have also suggested that our vaccination rate is the lowest in Europe, which is also not true. Unfortunately, however, misinformation is even coming from the HSE. I have received such information regarding a hospital in my constituency. These are understandable mistakes and teething problems, but we feel we need a dedicated Minister of State to be the point person in Government for the vaccination process. There is much goodwill around the country for what the Government is trying to achieve and we in the Labour Party certainly want to play our part. It would be beneficial, however, if we had a dedicated Minister of State in place with full responsibility for the vaccination process as we roll it out and we want the Taoiseach to consider it.

I do not see how that would help at this stage to advance the vaccination programme, given the lines of authority and the statutory framework which governs health. We have appointed a national task force. The national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, advises clinically on the vaccines in respect of safety and efficacy and prioritisation among groups. The HSE is essentially the operational arm of the entire project and it is accountable to the Secretary General of the Department of Health and, ultimately, to the Minister for Health, who is then accountable to the Dáil and the Oireachtas. That chain of accountability is very important regarding the roll-out of the vaccination programme and its administration and operationalisation. Drafting in a Minister of State would not fit into that crucial accountability framework.