UP TO 28,000 babies are to be invited to take part in a vaccination programme against for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) this autumn and winter.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will today ask Cabinet to approve the vaccination programme for infants born between September 2024 and February 2025.
Parents will be encouraged to vaccinate their newborns before leaving the hospital and the vaccine is expected to be effective for up to five months – the average length of an RSV season. It is understood that protection from the vaccine is immediate once administered.
In an interview with The Journal last year, Donnelly said the vaccine is already in use in Spain and appeared to be “really -effective”. However, due to its cost, Ireland had to negotiate a price with the manufacturer.
Last winter, there has been a sharp spike in RSV, prompting the HSE advise parents to “cocoon” very young babies, who are particularly vulnerable.
Last year there were 1,397 RSV hospitalisations in infants under one year of age, and the majority of these (1,017) were in infants less than six months of age.
In Winter 2023/2024 there were 118 paediatric intensive care unit admissions in infants under one year of age attributed to RSV and adult ICU beds had to be placed on standby for paediatric patients due to the high numbers being admitted to hospital and ICU.
As a result, Donnelly drew up plans for a vaccine programme to start for newborns in September following advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) that vaccines were safe and effective.
NIAC noted that preliminary data from a clinical trial conducted in Europe during winter 2022/23, involving over 8,000 infants, reported an 83% reduction in RSV-related hospitalisations in infants.
Donnelly has been advised that applying the evidence to the Irish infant population could result in the avoidance of up to 453 hospitalisations and up to 48 ICU admissions if there was a 50% take-up among newborns this autumn/winter.
NIAC has also advised that analysis of cost effectiveness and programmatic considerations are required to determine the most appropriate permanent RSV immunisation strategy.
HIQA has been asked to carry out a rapid health technology assessment of immunisation against RSV in Ireland, which will include infants and older adults.
Separately, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is to update Cabinet on homeownership rates and restrictions around bulk-buying.
He will tell ministers that guidelines issued introduced in May 2021 mean by the end of May, almost 50,000 new houses and duplex units have been ring-fenced for owner occupiers. Apartments were not included in the measure.
Last month, Taoiseach Simon Harris said has said he wants a review carried out into the bulk buying of properties by private investors.
He told reporters he wants a new review to look at both taxation and planning measures that can further prevent the bulk buying of properties.
The standard rates of stamp duty on residential property are 1% on values up to €1 million and 2% on values exceeding €1 million.
A higher 10% rate of duty comes in when someone acquires at least 10 properties during any 12-month period.
In May 2021 the government introduced a 10% stamp duty on the bulk purchase of family homes by investment funds.
However, in July 2021, the Government passed a controversial amendment to allow funds to side-step the 10% stamp duty if they leaseback homes to the State for social housing.
While the government says the measure has proven to be a “significant disincentive”, critics such as Sinn Féin has said the measures do not go far enough.
In addition to the housing and health memos today, Education Minister Norma Foley is bringing a memo to cabinet about the plan to hire 44 therapists on a permanent basis to work with teachers and children with special educational needs in the classroom.
It is understood that it had been very difficult to fill the roles for 39 speech and language therapists (SLTs) and occupational therapists, as well as five behavioural therapists, because they were on a temporary basis.
The Department of Public Expenditure has now sanctioned that the roles can be advertised as permanent positions.
The therapists will work collaboratively with teachers in classrooms to improve learning outcomes for students.
This has been successfully piloted in schools and is known as the School Inclusion Model.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee will also bring a number of updates to Cabinet in relation to immigration, including an update on the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, to which Government has agreed to opt-in.
Approval of the opt-in is required from both the Dáil and the Seanad, with debates scheduled in both Houses for this week. The Pact has been under negotiation at EU level since 2016.
McEntee will tell ministers that a shared European response is needed to better respond to the global challenges of asylum and migration, and that by opting into the Pact, Ireland’s laws on both matters will be fully aligned with the EU for the first time.
New legislation will therefore be introduced to replace the International Protection Act 2015, which is no longer fit for purpose. That legislation will also be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny and will be debated in both the Dáil and the Seanad as normal.
There will also be full debate and scrutiny on how the Pact is implemented in Irish law.
The new legislation will include a number of changes, including “stronger border security, with more collection of fingerprints and photographs of new arrivals; faster processing of all applications, with legally binding timeframes for decision making; and fast-track processing at designated centres for people who arrive with no documents or from countries which are generally free from war and persecution”.
It will also include a greater focus on returning unsuccessful applicants to their home countries, or to other European countries they have travelled through, and a new solidarity mechanism to give greater support to countries such as Italy and Greece that are at the front-line of migration pressures.
The Minister will also seek Cabinet approval to introduce a number of legislative changes in a Bill to be enacted before the summer recess.
These include increasing the current maximum carrier liability fine from €3,000 to €5,000 in instances where they are found not to have upheld their obligations in ensuring passengers have appropriate documentation.
The Bill will also allow certificates of citizenship to be revoked in very limited circumstances. For example, where the person presents a credible threat to the State, or where citizenship has been procured through fraud.
McEntee will also update Government on further investment in the international protection system.
She will tell Cabinet that this will require 400 additional staff to be hired in the next 12 months, which will build on progress to date.
This includes the doubling of staff working in the International Protection Office, which the Department says has led to a corresponding trebling of the number of decisions issued.
The Minister will also increase the current target of 1,100 IPO decisions per month to 1,800 decisions per month and then to 2,200 decisions per month.
International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) capacity will be increased to deliver some 1,000 appeals monthly initially, and subsequently 1,250 a month.
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