Danny Healy-Rae demands urgent vaccinations, questions travel testing
Danny Healy‑Rae urged immediate vaccinations for residents and staff of public homes for people with physical and mental disabilities, and pressed the minister on testing and a reported new pneumonia virus in Wuhan. He called for priority for frontline staff, home helps and carers, and asked for clarity on hotel use and cross‑border travel testing.
Vaccination plea for disability homes
He appealed that patients and frontline staff in public homes housing people with disabilities - citing places like the Cheshire Home in Killarney, Deer Lodge and Cherryfield in Killarney - be vaccinated sooner rather than later. He asked the minister to ensure those residents receive vaccinations as a matter of urgency.
Priority for carers and home helps
He emphasised that home helps and carers who enter the homes of elderly people and people with disabilities should receive the "utmost attention" for vaccination. He highlighted the role of these workers in keeping people in their own homes and urged they be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Questions about new pneumonia virus and testing
He asked the minister what is known about a new pneumonia virus reported in Wuhan and whether the population will be vaccinated before that virus could arrive. He requested that the minister communicate clearly about the matter and the implications for vaccine rollout.
Concerns about arrivals, City West Hotel and Belfast anomaly
He welcomed the requirement that travellers be tested within three days before arrival and said he had been calling for such testing for some time. He queried how much of the City West Hotel is being used and whether it is still being paid for, and raised an anomaly where people flying into Belfast and saying they are travelling to Belfast were entering the 26 counties without testing assurance.
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Thank you very much, Leickeann Comhairle. First of all, I want to add my voice to the call for vaccines, vaccinations, as soon as possible, for each and every person on our island. But first of all, I'm calling that in relation to public homes that house people with physical and mental disabilities, that all those patients and frontline staff in those places, places like the Cheshire Home in Killarney, Deer Lodge and Cherryfield in Killarney, where people with disabilities reside, that these people are vaccinated sooner rather than later, and the workers that are doing such great work, that these people be vaccinated as soon as possible, Minister. Home helps and carers who are in and out of homes of elderly people and who do great work day in, day out to ensure that people, elderly people and people with disabilities can remain in their own homes for as long as possible. I'm asking that those people get the utmost attention and get the virus as soon as possible. Minister, what do you know about the new pneumonia virus that we hear has arrived in Wuhan again? Will we have all our own people vaccinated here before this new virus comes from these people? What do you know about it? And you need to let people know about it. I'm glad that it lasted after Kali for months and months in relation to air travel into our country, that they are now asking that the test be, that people coming to this country have to be, have been tested within three days before they come. I've been asking for this for so long. It's not that I'm against people coming home because that's not the way I want it. I want people to come home, but they need, everyone needs to have a test before they come here. And prior to their arrival in Ireland, I want to know how much of the City West Hotel is being used. Are we still paying for it? And then there's an anomaly where people are flying into Belfast and coming down here without any test. And the same story, they're using Dublin Airport, sorry, they're using Dublin Airport and saying they're going to Belfast and yet they're coming into the 26 counties. Something has to be done about these things, Minister.
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