First Minister Arlene Foster has not ruled out the possibility of donating surplus vaccinations to the Republic of Ireland in order to speed up the Coronavirus vaccination programme.

Her comments come in the week when Health Minister Robin Swann anticipated that two significant new deliveries from AstraZeneca will arrive in the province before the end of the week. He said the consignment from AstraZeneca will come in two separate batches, one of which will have a use by date of the end of March.

When asked if the UK should donate surplus vaccinations to the Republic of Ireland Mrs Foster said: “I certainly think it’s something that the Prime Minister [Boris Johnson] should have a conversation with Taoiseach [Micheál Martin] about. I believe that it will be the benefit of not just the Republic of Ireland but to Northern Ireland as well if we had a vaccine programme in the Republic that was moving at a faster measure.”

Speaking on RTÉ programme ‘This Week’ on Sunday, The First Minister compared the vaccination figures between the Republic and Northern Ireland. She said: “On Friday, our figures showed that 40 per cent of our population have had their first dose of the vaccine. I think that a tremendous move forward. I am very pleased that that has been the case and it shows the strength of the vaccine programme across the United Kingdom, however we are alarmed to see the figures in the Republic of Ireland and the fact that they have such low figures at presence so there will have to be conversations about how we move forward.”

Mrs Foster continued: “Obviously we will be taking advice from our Chief Medical Officer (Dr Michael McBride) as to what are the best ways forward, but it is my desire of course, as a neighbour, to see everyone vaccinated on the island of Ireland and I very hope much that the vaccine programme in the Republic does pick up pace because it’s important that if people are coming and travelling across the border that they are vaccinated, but also for the population of the Republic as well.”

As of March 6, The Republic of Ireland have distributed 523,069 of the vaccine. A total of 373,149 people in the Republic of Ireland had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 149,920 had received their second dose.

In the Republic, four counties close to Fermanagh recorded zero cases in 24 hours on March 8. Counties Cavan, Leitrim, Donegal and Monaghan all recorded zero cases in the same 24 hour period. As of March 8, County Leitrim had recorded no new cases of the coronavirus in five days.