Independent ie poll: majority support vaccine prioritisation for gardaí but not teachers independent.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independent.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated / Tuesday, 6 Apr 2021
20:25
The Restaurants Association of Ireland said it would welcome a discussion on green passes
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said that a digital certificate for Covid-19 vaccination cannot and should not lead to any type of discrimination.
Speaking on RTÉ s Drivetime, ICCL Executive Director Liam Herrick said that anything that allows discrimination in terms of access to goods and services, or employment raises an obvious question . discrimination . It also puts people in a position of being forced indirectly to take a vaccine, which raises questions of bodily integrity and the principle of consent to the vaccine programme.
The three teacher unions have agreed a joint motion on vaccine prioritisation for teachers for discussion at their conferences tomorrow.
Similarly, Antoinette Cunningham, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has said that gardaí should also be prioritised for the vaccine.
However, the government has argued that the vaccine rollout will be faster if it does on the basis of age, rather than profession.
Independent.ie wants to know what you think is the best way to move forward.
Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland
However groups such as gardaà and teachers are continuing to press the Government to reverse this policy.
Gardaà and teachers on Sunday urged the Government to introduce a separate Covid-19 vaccination programme to run in parallel with the new age-based system for the general public.
General secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and InspectorsAntoinette Cunningham said her organisation was proposing that in mass vaccination centres, such as City West in Dublin, there could be separate streams that would provide vaccines side-by-side to both those in high risk and frontline occupations such as gardaà and teachers as well as to the general public based on their age.
Special needs assistants need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible, says union Home quarantine among compromises to be discussed by Ministers
about 8 hours ago
The union representing Special Needs Assistants (SNAs), Forsa, has called on Government to ensure its members are vaccinated as soon as possible.
The union is unhappy that the vaccine rollout plan has been changed to one based primarily on age rather than occupation.
Andy Pike, head of the union’s education division, told RTÉ news on Monday: “Many of them will be working alongside healthcare staff, for instance in our special schools, where the nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists have all been vaccinated under the HSE rollout yet the SNAs working alongside them day to day will not be vaccinated.