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Dáil
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Testing and vaccination rollout

Summary

The Taoiseach criticised the tone of Opposition comments and said testing capacity was being expanded. He rejected the claim that nobody could get tested, said the HSE was doing everything possible, and responded to questions about antigen use and outreach to minority communities.

I understand that Deputies may have criticisms and so on but some of the language being used is out of order. I respectfully suggest that there needs to be a greater sense of giving a positive message to the public about what is being achieved as well. It is all very well to talk about putting the tin hat on it and attempting to ridicule what is going on. It is not right of Deputy McDonald to do that. I do not know who the 207,000 people who got tested in the last seven days were.

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Deputy Bríd Smith could not get tested all day yesterday.

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The impression from the contributions of the Opposition is that nobody is getting tested and no one can get tested. We already had a good discussion on testing during Leaders' Questions. I gave information on testing and I said that the HSE is doing everything it possibly can to expand PCR testing. I remember Deputy McDonald saying well over a year ago that 100,000 tests per week was the holy grail but we are well beyond that now, with 207,000 tests per week.

To respond to Deputy Michael Collins, a debate on sea fisheries is due before the end of the recess. The Business Committee has agreed to have statements on Covid-19 and the new measures tomorrow. I do not know whether Deputies are aware of that but that debate will last 200 minutes, with a ten-minute wrap-up from the Department of Health.

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Could we extend it with questions? That would be helpful.

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I regret that some game-playing is going on.

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This was all agreed at the Business Committee and the Government is standing by what was agreed there. Deputy Whitmore made a fair point. During Leaders' Questions, I referenced the fact that about 1,900 people turned up for their first dose of a vaccine at the weekend and the majority of those would have been from migrant communities.

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According to the Taoiseach, there is no problem with testing.

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It is testament to the efforts of the HSE to reach out to minority communities and those communities that may not have enjoyed the same confidence in the vaccine in the beginning that they are starting to turn up because of those efforts.

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