Irish Daily Mail

NOW IT’S JABS FOR THE BOYS

Astonishin­g claim by Fianna Fáil TDs, including a senior Government minister, that vaccinatio­ns were taking place as a result of their interventi­ons

- By Craig Hughes Political Correspond­ent

A NUMBER of Fianna Fáil TDs – including a Cabinet minister – claim to have influenced who is first in line to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and backbench TD Jackie Cahill have blatantly boasted about their impact on securing scarce supplies.

Asked by the Irish Daily Mail yesterday if it was appropriat­e for politician­s to interfere in the roll-out, Mr Cahill said: ‘That’s the nature of politics, the squeaky hinge gets the most oil.’

Mr O’Brien was defiant, declaring: ‘I personally contacted the HSE, the Department of Health and Minister for Health to ensure remaining vaccinatio­ns for Dublin Fire Brigade are undertaken.’

He added: ‘I’m informed that this will happen next week.’

However, this political interferen­ce comes as other frontline workers, who do not have a minister lobbying for them, will have to wait potentiall­y three to four weeks before being vaccinated.

And it seems to fly in the face of the Government’s Covid-19 vaccinatio­n plan, as tensions rise over queue-jumping claims and frontline workers being pushed back.

Mr O’Brien intervened after around 150 Dublin Fire Brigade paramedics had their vaccinatio­ns cancelled last week, with the HSE citing a ‘supply issue’. However, doctors and nurses around the

country also had their appointmen­ts cancelled as stock was redirected to nursing homes.

Frontline medical staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda were told a week ago that their scheduled vaccinatio­ns would not go ahead because ‘any and all available vaccines nationally are being prioritise­d for nursing homes’.

In a message to an advanced paramedic with the Dublin Fire Brigade at the weekend, Minister O’Brien said the vaccinatio­ns were taking place this week as a result of his interventi­on.

When contacted, he defended his interventi­on, which included writing directly to HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid, saying it was appropriat­e because Dublin Fire Brigade falls under his department’s remit.

‘I’m the minister with responsibi­lity for these frontline workers. They were due to get the vaccine already, some of their colleagues have already, and there was a breakdown that caused that to stop last Thursday.

‘I made representa­tions to the HSE and Minister for Health and I’ve been advised that the programme will restart this week coming,’ he said. He said he had acted ‘rightly and properly through the appropriat­e channels’.

And he added: ‘What you don’t seem to understand… sorry you’re actually trying to twist this… they are frontline workers who are in the programme already… that’s exactly what happened and rightly so. No one is jumping the queue on anyone at all, they’re actually in the queue already, there was a breakdown with the supply chain on Thursday.

‘It was brought to my attention by the Dublin Fire Brigade. I’ve acted upon that by making representa­tions directly to the HSE and Minister for Health.’

His party colleague, Dublin North-West TD Paul McAuliffe, told staff on social media to ‘keep in contact’ if they have issues accessing the vaccine this week.

Mr McAuliffe said: ‘At the end of the day, Government makes decisions and, as per any other element of course, there will be representa­tions made. But overall, I would agree with the approach to follow the guidance from the HSE and the NIAC.’

And TD for Tipperary Mr Cahill claimed, on Friday, to have secured 40 vaccines for Nenagh Hospital, where staff last week sent an angry video message to the Government after being overlooked for vaccines.

Mr Cahill posted a ‘Nenagh Hospital vaccinatio­n update’ on his social media feed, hours after the video was posted. ‘The Taoiseach has informed me that an initial delivery of vaccinatio­ns will be sent to Nenagh Hospital tomorrow morning for front-facing staff, following representa­tion I made to him on this matter,’ he wrote.

‘I have been back in contact with the Taoiseach’s Chief of Staff late this evening, to state that a full delivery is needed as a matter of priority and I have requested certainty on a date for this.’

Asked about his conversati­on with the Taoiseach, Mr Cahill said Micheál Martin told him to ‘join the queue’ but that ‘he assured me that he’d make representa­tions that they would get them as soon as possible’.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said he sought an update from the HSE on the matter but did not directly interfere.

Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said the roll-out of the vaccinatio­n needs to be ‘transparen­t’ and people need to see that it is ‘equitable and fair’.

He said: ‘I have no issue with a TD or public representa­tive making a representa­tion, where they see unfairness or where they see vaccines not getting to the right people, as seen by workers in Nenagh, Letterkenn­y or Drogheda. However, this vaccine roll-out cannot be based on political needs, favours or connection­s,’ he said.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it was ‘completely normal for a public representa­tive to advocate on behalf of their constituen­ts, on any issue’.

‘However, the decisions being made are following the NIAC [National Immunisati­on Advisory Committee] prioritisa­tion,’ he said. Mr Donnelly had made a sudden

Taoiseach said he sought an update

shift in the roll-out programme, on January 8, by ‘accelerati­ng’ the delivery to nursing homes.

This is due to be completed next Sunday, with the minister utilising ‘buffer’ or reserve stock to do so.

This led to supplies being redirected from hospitals to nursing homes, meaning healthcare workers with vaccine appointmen­ts postponed with no new date fixed.

The minister said his shift was made following ‘reassuranc­es’ in relation to supply of the vaccine.

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