[ad_1]
The difference in the treatment of meat plants and restaurants means that the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) does not deserve the public’s respect or trust, a senator said.
Former Tannaist and Justice Minister Senator Michael McDowell delivered a harsh rebuke to Nphet on his recommendation to send Dublin to a new blockade.
“I don’t trust Nphet for this very simple reason: the difference in the treatment of meat plants and restaurants between it and the HSE is dramatic and inexplicable,” he said.
“I have no confidence in the HSE because for three years, from 2016 to 2019, report after report said that the provision of intensive care units would be increased, as it is insufficiently provided and nothing was done about it,” he said.
He said that during this time practically nothing was done. When this situation re-emerged in March, the Covid-19 committee heard that an increase in the capacity of the UCI had been sanctioned. That’s the politics and management of paralysis, McDowell said.
The closure of restaurants in the capital will condemn vast swaths of vulnerable and poorly paid people to go home to sleep, or wherever they are, and spend weeks alone in those places without adequate wages, he said.
McDowell said the decision to block has not been scientifically justified.
“It’s wrong. It goes against the strategy announced two weeks ago by the government that it would reopen these places,” he said.
He said: “NPHET does not deserve our respect. The HSE does not deserve our respect. They are implementing policies that are cruel, wasteful and extremely damaging to our economy and extremely damaging to public health in terms of cancer, psychiatry, psychology, and well-being at all. It is time for us to stand up and demand that these regulations be properly debated in this House, “he said.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard raised the Main story of a cluster of 226 Covid-19 cases at a meat plant in Cork that remained open.
“At this moment we are facing a dangerous vacuum, with rumor and counter-rumor, and no one has a clue of what is happening on the ground,” he said.
“Yesterday in the Dáil, a member stated that there were a certain number of cases in Cork and in the southern half of the country. We need clarity throughout the structure, including how things are happening and how the reports are happening, ”he said.
“This morning, I took the opportunity to call the President of Meat Industry Ireland to have a conversation about how to get that information out to the general public,” Lombard said.
If there was a case of Covid-19 in a school, the information would be published and we would be aware of it, he said.
“Very strict restrictions have been introduced for the bar and restaurant sector, where customer names are taken and companies must be very transparent about how they run their show. On the subject of the Irish meat industry, we need to find out exactly where the cases are, how many there are and what the problem is on the ground, ”he said.
[ad_2]