[ad_1]
Three senior health officials are the first witnesses to be questioned by the new Oireachtas Covid-19 committee when it meets next week.
After a lengthy debate in private session, the 19 committee members agreed at their first meeting that Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan, HSE CEO Paul Reid and Secretary of Health Department Jim Breslin would be the first witnesses to appear before the committee for two two-hour sessions.
They will be questioned on the subject of testing and tracing and Covid-19 in congregated settings, as well as plans for a return to work for sectors of the economy, including the construction industry, starting next Monday.
In the third session, the Federation of the Construction Industry, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Safety and Health Authority will be invited to answer questions related to the opening of construction and other related sectors.
The following week, the committee is expected to discuss nursing homes and other care settings.
However, the work program must be presented to Dáil’s business committee, which will decide whether he can safely run three two-hour sessions in one day in Dáil’s chamber, given the requirements to ventilate the room. The business committee had originally approved two sessions, but committee members said they would like to have three.
All parties and groups on the committee will send more proposals for consideration.
Previously, independent TD Michael McNamara was named chair of the Covid-19 committee without a vote.
Commenting on the meeting that met for almost four hours, mostly in a private session, Sinn Féin’s health spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said: “It is good that we focus on the areas that are most concerning: testing and tracking, congregated configurations and the construction sector. “
O’Reilly said she was particularly interested in making sure that the voices of construction and healthcare workers’ representatives were heard.
Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall appreciated the focus on the public health response and the “road map” for reopening the economy.
“There was a suggestion that we might have political people first, ministers and possibly the Taoiseach, but most of the other members were of the opinion that we had to deal with those other issues first because they are the most pressing,” he said.
Speaking about his party’s support for newly elected committee chairman Michael McNamara, the TD Duncan Smith Labor Party said the party wanted someone in the opposition “and we were very open to David Cullinane or Róisín Shortall. But McNamara called last night and obviously we have a history with him.
“He is a lawyer with a legal background and I was happy to support him, but there was no discussion to keep Sinn Féin out. I would have loved to proceed with David as president. “
Fianna Fáil health spokesman Stephen Donnelly said he was pleased that “there is at least one Dáil committee back.” The vacuum of political scrutiny is not anyone’s fault, but it is very dangerous given the scale of decisions, social, civil, health and economic freedoms that are being taken. “
Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said it was a long meeting but that “many of us are beginning to understand the perspective that people have and what their priorities are.”
Mr. McNamara was nominated as president by the Green Party TD Ossian Smyth.
The committee voted 12 in favor and six against Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane for committee chair. McNamara had abstained from the vote. Cullinane was nominated by the party’s finance spokesperson. Pearse Doherty.
The newly elected chairman thanked the 19-member committee for selecting him and said he hoped the committee could function in a collegial manner.
McNamara (46) is a former TD Labor Party who worked from 2011 to 2016 when he lost his seat, but regained it in 2020.
Lawyer and farmer based in Scarriff in Co, Clare joined the independent TD group in today’s Dáil. This is one of the three groups of Independents and comprises Mr. McNamara, Marian Harkin, Joan Collins, Catherine Connolly, Thomas Pringle, and Michael Fitzmaurice.
McNamara, Harkin, and Fitzmaurice represented the group in a two-hour meeting on government formation with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and later described it as constructive but preliminary. Among the issues the group was lobbying for were civil service reform and increased local government oversight.
He had expressed interest in becoming Ceann Comhairle, but withdrew from the contest before the nominations were closed.
Clare TD was expelled from the Parliamentary Labor Party in 2015 when she voted against the government for the sale of Aer Lingus shares. It was his third time to vote against the party, but he was reinstated the following year. He quit the party last year.
In November 2018, he won an appeal against a dangerous driving conviction following an incident in December 2016.
He is married to attorney Sarah Hillery, granddaughter of former President Paddy Hillery. McNamara contested the 2011 general election against her father-in-law, Dr. John Hillery of Fianna Fáil.
[ad_2]