The reopening of indoor hospitality would have been delayed even if Nphet took the updated vaccine rollout into account in its modelling, according to the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin was asked at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting if new advice from National Immunisation Advisory Council (Niac), which said that AstraZeneca and single-shot Janssen jabs could be given to all ages, was taken into account in Nphet modelling.

He told the Cabinet Nphet’s projections had accounted for the significant changes in the vaccination programme.

However, CMO Dr Tony Holohan later told Opposition leaders that in fact, Nphet had not taken the new Niac advice into account.

The Taoiseach said today he has been “surprised” to read some of the reporting around internal Cabinet negotiations and declined to comment on those discussions, citing Cabinet confidentiality.

However, he said indoor dining would have not been reopened even if Nphet took into account the updated vaccine rollout.

“The Niac advice, and this should be obvious to all, is a response to Delta. It was not central to our decision last Tuesday,” he told Independent.ie.

“It’s because of the fact that Delta is spreading so dramatically in the UK is the most transmissible variant we’ve had so far, that’s why the CMO wrote to Niac.

“The decision we took was to delay reopening for fear that if we continued without any regard for the advice, that we could accelerate the spread of Delta.”

He said supply of vaccines, the operationalisation of the advice by the HSE and vaccine uptake will all factor into how much the vaccine rollout will be speeded up by.

“The Niac advice is a response to a more serious situation because of the Delta variant - it is not central to the decision we took, to pause and delay and to slow down the spread of Delta,” Mr Martin.

He said it is expected that AstraZeneca will deliver 25,000 doses on July 5 and 37,000 doses the following week.

In terms of the one-shot Janssen jab, there are 100,000 doses in fridges, 40,000 in pharmacies and chemists and an additional 80,000 doses due for delivery in July.
Mr Martin said he spoke to Dr Holohan on Saturday and Sunday but actual Nphet advice came on Monday evening.

The Taoiseach did not rule out the opening of indoor hospitality on July 19 to vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

When asked if opening up indoor hospitality all people, not just for the vaccinated, is off the table, he said that the Government will engage with the hospitality industry with an “open mind”.

“We said that we will go into these meetings with the working group with an open mind.

“Our minds are not closed in terms of how we do this and the various mechanisms or pillars that we could use to facilitate the safe reopening of hospitality in consultation with the sector itself,” he added.

However, he did rule out suggestions that the EU Digital Covid Cert may be used as a vaccine pass for indoor dining, saying that the two will not be “conflated”.

Mr Martin said he does believe that the controversy around reopening of indoor dining has been handled well because the Government chose to delay reopening, which is the “right” thing to do.

He was speaking as the Government launched its National Marine Planning Framework this morning.