By James Ward, PA
A working group will set out the detail of the Covid-19 certificates in the coming days, Minister Eamon Ryan has said.
More than 1.8 million certificates will be delivered to people who are fully vaccinated by July 19th, to allow them to avail of indoor hospitality and international travel.
People who have recovered from Covid-19 will also be allowed to use indoor hospitality, but it is unclear how they will be provided with certification to prove their immunity, having had the disease.
It follows a day of confusion, with Green Party Minister Catherine Martin claiming early on Tuesday that people could apply to their GPs, sparking concerns among doctors.
Ms Martin was later contradicted on the matter by her party colleague, Minister Ossian Smyth who apologised for the misunderstanding.
Green party leader Eamon Ryan was unable to clear the matter up when questioned later on Tuesday.
Asked if people would be able to obtain certs from their GPs, he said: “Those details are going to come out of the working group later on today and in the coming days. I’ll let them work out the actual arrangements.”
“We only just passed the legislation yesterday in Government, it has still to go to the Dáil,” he added.
“I think it’s appropriate that we give ourselves a number of days to work through the final details, including on GPs and others.”
Mr Ryan said close to two million certs will be issued between letters and emails, with between 25,000 and 30,000 being sent each day.
He added: “I’m confident we can do it. We’ve shown right through this crisis we have been able to manage.”
Asked if he understood public concern over the confusion on an important public health issue, Minister Ryan replied: “We won’t be starting this until after the 19th of July, the legislation isn’t through the through the Dáil yet.
“We will manage all the details and get all the arrangements in place.
“The industry we’ve been working with for the last two weeks, they say yeah, that’s the right sort of approach.
“Yes, the public are concerned, they’re always concerned in terms of how these things work. But they will work and it will be delivered in time.
“We don’t have to have that today before it’s even passed through to the Dáil.
“So give the working group a few days to finalise all these arrangements.”
