The leader of the Labour Party has called again for a 'Minister for Vaccines' to be appointed to oversee the programme roll-out in Ireland.
Alan Kelly believes that having one person to make executive decisions on the inoculation schedule will speed up the administration of doses.
His earlier calls in the Dáil for a specialised ministerial role were rejected by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in December.
Speaking to Newstalk's On The Record with Gavan Reilly, Deputy Kelly said there needs to be consistency in the vaccination roll-out.
"I know everyone is working flat out but I think personally someone should be in charge of this, I don't think it can be done directly by a committee," he stated.
"I believe we need transparency, just as regards giving people hope and positivity so every day when we're announcing the amount of people infected, the amount of people in hospital, we should also be announcing the amount of people who have been vaccinated."
The Tipperary TD added that the immunisation roll-out will likely "become a huge logistical issue", and that the most important thing at the moment is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.
He said: "From an executive point of view, doing things by committee, and there's always a committee behind the scenes, there has to be one person who makes calls quickly.
"Speed trumps perfection, so a minister, I believe, would be the right way to go.
"I just think in a national emergency, in a situation like this where it's so important, we should do that to avoid issues or situations where there is a delay."
Main image: Alan Kelly. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
