Danny Healy-Rae urges rapid vaccinations to save Kerry tourism
Danny Healy-Rae urged the Taoiseach to urgently ramp up the vaccination programme and to rescue the tourism industry in County Kerry, warning that towns and businesses are closed and coach operators are idle. He argued a faster vaccine rollout is needed to avoid further lockdowns and to protect local jobs.
Call for urgent vaccination ramp-up
Danny Healy-Rae pressed the Taoiseach to increase vaccine delivery and administration, criticising a pace that he said would take years to fully vaccinate the population. He warned that current rates - "100,000 vaccines a month to take eight years to vaccinate" - are unacceptable and called for all available measures to be used to accelerate the rollout.
Local tourism crisis in Kerry
He described severe economic damage across County Kerry, saying towns such as Kilharna have gone dark and many businesses have their doors closed. He asked the government to "rescue and salvage the tourism industry" for the people of Kerry and the Ring of Kerry to prevent long-term loss of livelihoods.
Coach operators and buses idle
He drew attention to coach operators and tourism transport being inactive, saying buses are parked inside yards and calling for specific consideration of that sector as part of relief measures. He framed the support for coach operators as part of the broader need to revive the local tourism economy.
Response from the Taoiseach on supply and delivery
The Taoiseach replied that Ireland is participating in European pre-purchase agreements and that Pfizer-BioNTech is delivering, with Moderna providing low levels so far. The Taoiseach said AstraZeneca, once authorised, will increase volumes and that Pfizer-BioNTech will reconfigure manufacturing to add supply in March.
Operational challenge ahead
The Taoiseach forecast that by April, May and June vaccine supply should not be the limiting factor; instead the priority will be scaling up a large workforce to administer vaccines. He reiterated that vaccination offers "light at the end of the tunnel" while acknowledging the wide impact of the pandemic on industries and society.
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Ceann Comhairle, Teaseach, I want to add my voice to the call for more vaccinations, and we all appreciate that home health and people on the front line have to be vaccinated first, but I want to be aware of the county of Kerry and the amount of businesses that their doors are closed down, the town of Kilharna, there isn't a light in it. I'm asking, as a government, Teaseach, you're at the wheel, you're the Teaseach of the country, you're the head of government, I'm asking to rescue and salvage the tourism industry for the people all in Kerry and around the Ring of Kerry, and to think of all the coach operators and to see buses parked inside the yards, you must be aware and pull out all the stops and ensure that, I mean, 100,000 vaccines a month to take eight years to vaccinate, vaccinate the country, all the people in the country, if you don't wake up, and take serious action, and ramp up the vaccination, because that's what's needed now at this time, no more lockdowns. Teaseach, please. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, and the virus is wreaking devastation on many industries, many sectors, and on society at large. That is the reality. The vaccination programme offers light at the end of the tunnel. We are part of a European pre-purchase agreement process with a number of companies in relation to the delivery of the vaccine. The first such company was Pfizer-BioNTech, and they are delivering the vaccine to Ireland. Moderna has followed, with low levels of vaccine. As soon as we get vaccines in, we will administer the vaccines. That is what we have been doing. As I've said already in the House today, the AstraZeneca vaccine, when it's authorised, will give higher volumes. We will get higher volumes from Pfizer-BioNTech when they have reconfigured their manufacturing capacity, and certainly that will happen in terms of additional amounts that we've purchased also in March. The issue by the time of April, May, June will not be vaccine supply, I anticipate. Rather, it will be a national effort with a very strong and expansive workforce to get the vaccine. Thank you very much.
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