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Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald criticized Tánaiste Leo Varadkar for his comments on the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on Monday night.
It was not helpful for a high-ranking member of the government to “go out and attack NPHET for free,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
Mr. Varadkar criticized the medical director, Dr. Tony Holohan, for announcing public health recommendations on Sunday night that he said were not “well thought out” and without prior consultation with the government.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne show Monday night, after the government announced that all counties would move to Level 3 starting at midnight Tuesday, Varadkar said NPHET’s advice to move to Level 5 had “landed on us” Sunday night.
Exposing the deep tensions between NPHET and the government, Mr. Varadkar said that Dr. Holohan accepted that there should have been prior consultation and that there would not be a repeat of the incident.
McDonald, on Tuesday morning, said the country had not been ready to move to Level 5 as recommended by NPHET. Such a move would have been “too dramatic,” he said. “The government governed quite correctly.” NPHET’s role was to advise, they had.
McDonald said he agreed with NPHET’s concern about the capacity of hospitals and the number of intensive care beds. “When NPHET says it is concerned, it is a hit on the money.”
During the first wave of the pandemic earlier in the year, people had been grateful for the “constant advice” from NPHET that had brought the population with them. That is not the case now and it would be difficult to rectify that, he said.
When asked about the Gardaí’s role in enforcing the restrictions, Ms McDonald said they had sufficient powers and could recommend and encourage people to respect the restrictions and, if necessary, in other circumstances, they could intervene .
“I hope it is the exception and not the rule.”
Later, the Sinn Féin leader expressed concern on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland program that the government was “standing by NPHET and responding to them in terms of health capacity.”
The absence of adequate income supports would have meant that a move to Level 5 restrictions would have been catastrophic for people’s livelihoods, he said.
Of note is NPHET’s assessment that a very low level of capacity in the health service left the country vulnerable, Ms. McDonald said. The levels of transmission of the virus are “very, very high” and “we have to take action to break the chains of transmission,” he added.
Later, Ms. McDonald tweeted: “NPHET and Tony Holohan are not responsible for the state of our health services, that is from Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin.”
Meanwhile, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said Tuesday morning that the decision to move the entire country to Level 3 restrictions was an appropriate measure at this time and that the necessary factors to pass had not been met. to Level 5.
The minister stressed that NPHET and the Government had different jobs to do: the role of the Medical Director and NPHET was to advise the Government and that was what they had done, he said. The Government had to take into account the needs of the whole country, the economy and the protection of employment.
Donnelly said that he is currently in budget negotiations about financing the health service for next year, but that this would only work with a functioning economy.
Moving to level 3 worked well in Laois, Offaly and Kildare, while in Dublin the number of cases has stabilized, he said, adding that the virus now needs to be suppressed.
Donnelly said he did not believe that data relating to the period from last Thursday to Sunday would justify a move to level 5.
When asked twice whether he would take responsibility for failing to follow NPHET’s advice if there was an increase in cases, the Minister said that the Government had examined all the evidence and made the decision that was best for the country.
These were not about right or wrong decisions, they were about decisions based on the best evidence, he said.
The Minister of Reform and Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, said that the Government and NPHET had to “restart” their relationship, as they will have to depend on each other during the Covid pandemic.
The relationship between the government and NPHET has to be one of mutual respect and trust, McGrath told Morning Ireland on RTÉ radio. However, he warned that ministers must “listen carefully” to the group’s advice.
The government values NPHET’s advice, but in doing so they must take into account a broader set of factors, he added.
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