Brendan Smith praises vaccine rollout, urges firm COVID checks

Dr. Daniel Brunen, PM Thank you, I canceola. Could I just say at the outset that I wanted to agree with what my colleague, Deputy Joe Flaherty, said in relation to the outstanding success of the vaccine programme. And, of course, on different occasions when we spoke here and in the Convention Centre, we were questioning the rollout of the programme and some initial delays. But I have to say that the plan on the programme Minister Donnelly laid out and stuck with it has proven very successful and I compliment the Minister and his senior officials and the personnel in the HSE on the very very successful vaccine rollout programme and I also want to take the opportunity as other members of the House of all sides have done here is to pay tribute quite rightly to all the clinicians involved in administering the programme it be it nurses people of different professions within the whole area of healthcare and also GPs and pharmacists in their own premises and I also want to take the opportunity to compliment volunteers and retired people who went back to at this particular time of crisis to give additional capacity to the health service executive and I know in my own county and in County Monaghan as well I spoke to different people who had retired who didn't who didn't think they'd work again in the healthcare health service but they went back because they saw it as an opportunity to contribute once again to to helping people in a vulnerable position and I had the double vaccine administered in the in the centre in Cavan and it was a joy to be there on each occasion and see the joy on people's faces when when they when they got the vaccine and I recall very very well early on in the programme when the older older people people aged 80 plus people aged 70 they they got a new lease of life when they got even their first vaccine and meant a bit of freedom for them so it has been so important so minister to everybody from from yourself to the most to all the personnel involved in the in the department in the HSE and to all the people literally out in the vaccination centres and the GP practices in the pharmacies they all deserve great credit on what they have done to date and what they continue to do and I think we can't say that often enough because initially there was plenty of criticism and most of us put that in a constructive way and but it turned out for the good and hopefully with the booster vaccine that we would have a similarly successful role out as well and I hope minister you'll be able to to push that out as soon as possible because I know people are anxious and particularly people working in healthcare and people at the cold face delivering services oftentimes to vulnerable people that they want to have the booster jab as soon as possible could I also say and it was mentioned I think it was by deputy Kenny in regard in regard to to ensuring that the whole world gets gets the vaccine programme as well I just know that the Taoiseach said here the other day that we had to have international solidarity and a global vaccine supply and it's very important and I think any of us who would have been speaking here this day last year we wouldn't have thought that we would have had such a successful rollout so it shows what can be done when the global community gets together when governments throughout the world put resources into dealing with pan with a pandemic or dealing with any particular disease what can be achieved only some we spent some hours today at the good friday committee and speaking to the people who are who are developing an all iron cancer research centre and minister they appreciate your support and that of minister robin swan as well and they have just rolled out to us what has been done on an all ireland basis since the good friday agreement since the first memorandum of understanding going back to the early 1990s and that this project now is not just all ireland it's transatlantic with some of the major centres of excellence in research in the united states as well and obviously linking up with colleagues in europe so it shows what can be done when when when when the research is done on a collaborative basis when people don't work in silos when they work together striving for the common good could i just say minister i listened to you i think it was the one o'clock news on tuesday and the one thing deputy charter referred to as well i was struck by when you quoted the figure that one in three establishments were not implementing the regulations in regard to the covet certificate i have to say with the very little socializing i've been doing like everyone else here over the past 15 16 months i saw my own county and my own constituency any hostelry that i was in i was asked to produce myself and it was checked it wasn't just show your phone it was checked properly and it's most disappointing that if there's a town with 30 establishments in it 10 of them aren't implemented in the law of the land it's not just acceptable because you think of the 20 who are doing it well and doing it properly and there can be there can be no easing up on that a minister i would say to to the agencies the health and safety authority and the health service executive and whatever other statutory agencies that they must be firm in ensuring that the regulations are there for for the benefit of everybody and if one operator is it's strictly enforcing and then all should because it's for our benefit and a person is happier to be asked for your certificate when you're going into a premises and i think deputy shorter again referred to dr holand coming through the airport and not being asked for the relevant paperwork or whatever i've heard the stories i wasn't at any airport but i've heard those stories now if if employees of the state are ardent implementing the law it doesn't set a good example to people in the private sector that they should be implementing the regulations so if people are going through airports and if there's a requirement that they show where they're coming from going to or they have to show their certificate there's no excuse for not showing it and i sincerely hope that people will act responsibly and the overwhelming majority of the people are happier if they're asked for their for their travel documents or asked for their covid certificate the overwhelming majority of the people in business and people going about their daily life going out to socialize for a night or whatever they want to to to be comfortable and that they're in a house that's safe and that's hopefully free from from the virus could i also say minister that um i can fully understand why the government took a cautious approach on tuesday it was the very right one the the figures changed unfortunately for the worst relatively recently and it was sobering again to hear dr hold on on the radio this morning talk about 86 people in ice 86 patients i should say in icu and the hospital numbers had increased and there was pressure on the hospital system like we're going into winter time and hopefully that pressure doesn't exacerbate the system because we all know that the personnel working in the healthcare system be it in the community or being in hospital residential homes they've been under enormous pressure over the past 16 17 months minister we discussed within the within our own parliamentary party the whole area of mental health and how the pandemic has has caused additional pressures on people and i know that our colleague minister mary butler has worked extremely hard to put in place additional resources to improve the the delivery of services and i think there's funding in the budget this year for reconfiguring enhancing supports in response to the challenges posed by the covert and further improvements and development in child and youth mental health we will continue and that's much needed and um the minister outlined that a proportion of the additional funding would allow for the enhancement of child and youth mental health services and that's all welcome and it's necessary and again both yourself minister and minister butler have have outlined the different initiatives that have been taken information line text lines your mental health dot ie and supporting the work of ngos and all of that additional supports that are necessary for young people who are going through difficult times i'm going to just say it unfortunately very recently my own county a young man lost his life and his family spoke so well on the local radio recently his his parents and his siblings about how their family member was bullied and it was consistent bullying in different forms and that they they were anxious that the statutory agencies departments would take a new approach to the whole area of the crime of bullying and that at least some confidential lines be put in place to ensure that there's a cross government across agency approach and that this area that it can be addressed we know of the bullying that's happening on social media unfortunately and it's a blight on society and so many young people are being bullied constantly at least when we were at school you had a fight in the schoolyard over football or hurling or whatever and you went home and it was over and and you didn't get a lot of sympathy at home if you were complaining about somebody pushing you and kicking you on the shins or whatever that didn't matter but you got on you got on with it was when when you got out the schoolyard whatever messing was good on it it finished at that time but unfortunately now in far too many instances the bullying is continuing online with detrimental consequences and i think of that fine young 18 year old eden heaslip who lost his life following a series of bullying so minister i would hope that your department would play an active part along with other other government departments in ensuring that there's a cross government across agency approach to trying to tackle the whole area of bullying particularly of young people because it's bringing additional pressure on the mental health services so it is huge pressure and obviously if we can prevent some of the misbehavior the misdeeds that's happening it it will improve the quality of life for so many people but it would also save lives i know there's no simple answer unfortunately but minister i would hope that something that your department could be central along with understanding the department of just the department of children that there could be a whole government approach taken to ensuring that the requests of families who have gone through so much but who never want to see it happen to somebody else that that their lived experience of the awful loss of a young person that that could be that that their suggestions could be taken on board and head and hopefully help some other person to avoid um such such um loss of life or suffering to individuals as well so um it's an area that that we need to address as a matter of urgency it's happening person to person but the online thing is a multitude of what's happening person to person and it just cannot be tolerated anymore and the national the social media companies they really want to be taken on in a big way the government have promised the establishment of a media commission and i sincerely hope that that media commission will have the powers and the resources to take headlong the misbehavior of the of the international media companies in what they allow to happen online thank you so you you you