Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly does not remember what he said on Tuesday and gave out a different figure on vaccines to that of the HSE.
Earlier this week Donnelly told the Dáil that 48,000 of the Pfizer vaccines had arrived in Ireland.
The HSE has said that just 24,570 doses of the vaccine had arrived.
Today in the Dail TD Paul Murphy asked Donnelly: “Earlier this week you quite unbelievably claimed one of the reasons we could not pursue a zero-Covid strategy was that we don’t know for sure that another Covid variant wouldn’t arrive that would make the vaccine ineffective. What on earth did you mean by that?”
Mr Donnelly replied: “I have to go back and check exactly that interview or statement… but as you characterise that right now that doesn’t sound right to me.”
Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said: ‘How can we have a minister coming in and not knowing how many vaccines came into the country this week? Will you please address that at Government?
‘It’s scary, very scary, as was his performance.’
Pic: Damien Storan
