The Taoiseach Micheál Martin revealed yesterday a greater percentage of adults are now fully vaccinated in Ireland than in the UK.

There are 72.4% of adults in Ireland fully vaccinated compared to 72.1% in the UK.

In a post on Twitter, Mr Martin said: "The vaccine rollout is continuing at great pace. Today we edged ahead of our nearest neighbours - a brilliant effort by everyone involved."

His comments came as the Covid-19 walk-in vaccination clinics “exceeded expectations” according to the Citywest centre’s vaccination lead.

Run by the HSE, they have opened in several locations across the country and those attending will receive a Pfizer jab.

The vaccination lead for the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, Dr Karn Cliffe, said it appeared that mostly teenagers and people in their early 20s were seeking vaccination.

“This was completely new, it’s completely different and we really didn’t know what to expect, but there were queues from six o’clock this morning,” she said.

“Some of our vaccinators, even though they are in well before the clinic starts, were delayed getting to work, but we thought, ‘OK, that can only be a good thing, that means the walk-in centre is going to be very popular this morning’, and it was. It was brilliant — people were queuing down through the car park.”

HSE chief executive Paul Reid also hailed the uptake. He said 800 people were vaccinated at Citywest in Dublin within 90 minutes of the centre opening yesterday morning.

Mr Reid said Ireland was on the “final countdown” to protection from Covid-19.

“Walk-in vaccination centres all across the country are off to a great start this weekend,” he tweeted.

“City West is flying it, with over 800 people vaccinated in the first 1.5 hours. Smaller centres equally reporting a good turnout. A great response by the Irish people.

“After just 7 months of the vaccination programme we’re on the final countdown to protect ourselves & to rebuild.”

A further 1,427 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed yesterday.

The Department of Health said there are now 164 people in hospital, with 26 in ICU.

Speaking after the announcement, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Today we have reached the milestone of 300,000 cases reported in Ireland since the beginning of the pandemic.

“However, today we have also seen how solidarity continues to be the hallmark of our response, with young people across the country lining up to get vaccinated, both to protect themselves and to play their part in protecting the community.

“I strongly urge anyone eligible for a vaccine to come forward and avail of the opportunity as soon as possible.”