Mayor 'dismayed' over location of Limerick vaccination centre

THE Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Michael Collins has contacted the HSE over the controversy surrounding the location of the county’s mass-vaccination centre.

As it stands, the Newcastle West-based politician is likely to face an almost 100km round-trip to the Radisson Blu Hotel at the Ennis Road when it comes to his turn to get the jab.

In a Tweet this morning, he said he contacted the HSE to convey his “dismay”.

Referring to the Radisson Blu Hotel – just over the border in Clare – he wrote: “It’s simply the wrong location”.

He added the health service is considering adding a second location in the county, with sources suggesting Limerick Racecourse could be approached to offer the service.

As it stands, many people in county Limerick will be better positioned to travel to mass vaccination centres in other counties.

“Technically, at this point in time we do not have any vaccination centre in Limerick at the moment, but I’ve been assured they are looking at other locations as well,” Mayor Collins said, “What they should have looked at is a location in Limerick city, and two county locations, one in the south and one in the west. There are five in Cork, so there is no reason we shouldn’t have three in Co Limerick.”

The first citizen did say that a lot of people using the location of the centres for political purposes.

“I think there is a lot of misinformation out there. I heard Maurice Quinlivan this morning talking about how could they expect 75 to 80 year olds to go to the Radisson. But all that age group are being vaccinated in their homes or through their GPs. People who are vulnerable and cannot travel will be vaccinated at home. These vaccination centres are for people who are capable of travelling,” Mayor Collins said.

“I can understand why people are annoyed that we don’t have a centre in Limerick, but we need to keep the information right at the same time,” he concluded.