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Tanaiste Leo Varadkar launched a stabbing attack on medical director Tony Holohan and the NHPET last night over their communication and pushed for a second block.
The Fine Gael leader also stressed that the Cabinet did not believe that public health experts presented them with credible evidence to justify the move to Level 5.
Mr. Varadkar said the NHPET’s suggestion “came out of nowhere” Sunday night and revealed that they had proposed a short, acute “circuit breaker” of one month.
He added: “The problem we had with the proposal is that we do not feel it has been well thought out.
“For example, we ask for some consolation that four weeks might be long enough, since it hasn’t been long enough in Melbourne, it doesn’t seem to be long enough in Israel.
“They couldn’t give us that comfort.
“We also asked them what would happen after four weeks if it didn’t work out, would we abandon that strategy or proceed anyway.
“They said they hadn’t contemplated that.
“We asked, ‘Is it credible to keep schools open for those four weeks during a strict closure?
(Image: Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie)
“They thought yes, we weren’t so sure.”
Last night, the government moved to reject the advice of health chiefs for a national shutdown rather than opting to move the rest of the country to Level 3 restrictions.
And while NPHET’s recommendation surprised many Sunday night, Varadkars’ comments have divided opinion on social media.
There were some who felt the Tanaiste was totally out of place to criticize health officials.
One wrote: “Varadkar undermining NPHET when there are 40 ICU beds available in the country in a week where we had 3000 Covid cases, not as if he had reopened everything ahead of schedule and could not have improved his health in any way while I was in power. “
Correct me if I’m wrong, but our Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, himself a qualified doctor, just gave a live interview to explain that you can ignore medical advice from qualified medical experts if you think it is too expensive or will affect other activities.
“He did not agree with level 5, but what Leo Varadkar did tonight was a disgrace.”
However, there were some who agreed with Tanaiste’s comments.
One wrote: “Another unpopular opinion: Leo Varadkar speaks meaningfully tonight!”
Another added: Just getting a chance to see Claire Bryne show very impressed with Leo Varadkar, he showed good leadership, confidence, and most importantly, Hope!
And a third said: “Varadkar in #cblive It didn’t throw NPHET under a bus, it could have done a better job communicating that NPHET has a public health mandate only and we can’t run the country on the basis of one factor when there are many in the mix.
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