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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the government will make a decision on leaving the lockdown next week and that there will be a Dáil debate on the issue beforehand to hear different points of view on the strategy.
He said at the Wednesday evening meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party that he wanted Christmas to be “meaningful, enjoyable and safe” and that it would be about “trusting the public with their personal behavior.”
He also argued that the Republic was doing well in controlling the disease compared to most European countries.
The party meeting also heard recriminations about Fianna Fáil’s general election campaign with some members critical of the party’s “air warfare” and how its Dublin headquarters handled electoral strategy.
An election review is underway, led by Minister of State Seán Fleming, who provided an update at the party’s parliamentary meeting, as well as Minister of State Mary Butler and Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown TD Cormac Devlin.
Barry Cowen, a former agriculture minister, told the meeting that the review should consider the campaign conducted by headquarters and examine what went wrong. In general, Fianna Fáil was considered to underperform expectations in the general elections.
James Lawless, the TD for Kildare North, told the meeting that the ground war had been fought well at the constituency level, but that the candidates had been “disappointed” by the air war from headquarters.
Anne Rabitte, Minister of State in the Department of Health, suggested that the review should examine whether Fianna Fáil members did enough for the candidates on the ground.
The meeting also heard calls for Justice Minister Helen McEntee to appear before the Dáil to answer questions about the appointment of Séamus Woulfe to the Supreme Court.
Marc MacSharry, TD for Sligo-Leitrim, said the Taoiseach had done the right thing by deciding not to seek impeachment. However, she told her party colleagues that Ms. McEntee should answer questions to make sure the process is clear and that the party should not block the Opposition’s attempts to find time for that to happen.
Pub closings
The meeting heard a variety of contributions on pubs, and Mr. Cowen asked for clarity on the situation. Sources said that the general opinion at the meeting was also that there should be no differentiation between wet pubs and dry pubs.
Sen. Lisa Chambers said pubs were being pressured to order barrels of Diageo in time for Christmas if they opened, but expressed the belief that they wouldn’t be able to and that the public might not want to go to a pub. even if they were open.
Chambers also said the party should support the Labor citizenship bill, which would ensure that children born in the state obtain citizenship here.
Clare TD Cathal Crowe also said pubs needed clarity on the Christmas opening issue and said the impact on families working in the hospitality sector should be considered.
MacSharry said he hoped the hospitality would be open for Christmas. He spoke about Donegal, where infection rates are stubbornly high, arguing that given its size, if the government is going to have a different approach towards Donegal, it should recognize that the problem is localized in certain areas of Broder mainly in the east or northeast. . He warned that the government should not penalize the south or west of the county, where the infection is least.
MacSharry also criticized the handling of the proposed ban on takeout pints, which was diluted earlier in the week into a ban on gathering outside to drink alcohol, before being dropped in the cabinet. He said his introduction was a knee-jerk reaction and that the Cabinet memo was “badly thought out”, arguing that the parliamentary party should have been used as a sounding board before anything else happened.
MacSharry also raised the issue of CervicalCheck, arguing that compassion for the women affected had to outweigh financial considerations this time around, and said that women who were outside the statute of limitations in the matter should be admitted to court.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly gave an update on his work on the CervicalCheck issue, saying there are three substantive issues left that his Department is currently working on, and assured his colleagues that “no woman will be left out the door.” He assured his colleagues that he will continue to work closely with advocacy group 221 Plus to address the highlights.
The meeting also heard a contribution on concerns about the towers along the border from Cavan-Monaghan MP Niamh Smyth, and updates from two policy groups, one on sports, arts, culture and media, and another on preparedness. for Brexit.
Fine Gael meeting
Separately, former Health Minister Simon Harris called for greater use of the Army in contact tracing amid concerns about the deprivation of front-line health care personnel from providing vital services to children.
In a private meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, the Minister of Higher Education said that it was vital that as many additional people as possible be hired to work on contact tracing and that he understood that this was being worked on.
A source said Harris said the country received a lot of support from the military and questioned whether the government could seek more help.
He also said the government must provide clarity next week on the country’s plan to leave Level 5.
Up to 80 cadets from the Defense Forces attended the contact tracing efforts last month, according to the HSE, along with environmental health officials and other public servants.
Dublin Mid West TD Emer Higgins told the meeting that speech and language therapists were being reassigned for Covid 19 screening and described the impact this had on families in need of those resources. He also raised the need for public health nurses to resume conducting developmental checks when Level 5 ends, rather than tracing Covid 19 contacts.
The Fine Gael TDs also asked the Cabinet to begin consulting with the churches on the plan for Christmas.
Former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said advance planning was essential and should include “celebrating the feast of Christmas through Christian worship.”
He said the state should work with churches, which are the largest buildings in most neighborhoods, to facilitate Christmas services.
It was supported by similar contributions from Carlow Kilkenny TD JP Phelan.
The meeting also heard calls for a full discussion from Dáil on getting out of lockdown. The Cabinet will meet next Tuesday and possibly again at the end of the week to decide the plan to exit Level 5.
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