Fr Paddy Byrne 
Fr Paddy Byrne has hailed the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine as “hope” yet has offered criticism of the delays in getting the vaccine to the Irish people.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, the Abbeyleix priest said he believes getting the vaccine to the population “must be more than a 9-5 job”, and said he experienced disbelief upon reading of the laxity of the proposed vaccination programme.
“I think if you look at the likes of Israel and places around the world, that, we want to avail of this as soon as we can. Now, I’m not being critical of the HSE staff, but I do think their record is poor and I think we need to get that out as quick as we can,” he said.
Fr Byrne’s comments come as criticism builds of the Irish vaccination strategy, with the Irish Times reporting that one in every 2,500 people in Ireland had been vaccinated by the end of December, or 1,800 people. This stands in contrast to one in every eight in Israel, and one in 80 or so in both the US and the UK.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Health Minister Robin Swann has revealed that 80% of nursing homes were vaccinated by the end of December.
The slow speeds in Ireland are likely attributable to uncertainty over whether the Department of Health or the HSE are in charge of the vaccination effort, with confusion on the ground among GPs and nursing homes, as well as supply issues.
