Government should distance itself from ‘play safe’ medical advisers

Inside Track with John McIntyre

LONG before Covid-19 darkened our doorstep, Ireland was becoming a Nanny state. Over-regulated; too health & safety focused; and browbeaten by the PC brigade. What we are seeing now is just an extension of that. Nearly everyone is cautious and unwilling to question anything. Logic just gets thrown out the window.

For almost three months Ireland has battened down the hatches in tackling the coronavirus. The lockdown was a necessary response as were all the other restrictions which accompanied it. The Irish people rallied to the cause and were largely complaint in the effort to limit the consequences of Covid-19

As a result, the number of fatalities never threatened to reach the doomsday predictions made around late March. Still, many families lost loved ones and over 1600 people have succumbed to the coronavirus so far. Their grief compounded by isolation from their dying relatives and the penal restrictions which governed funerals. One can only imagine the anguish and distress.

In the beginning, none of us had any idea how bad this would get. There was widespread fear and panic. The Government and their health advisers weren’t prepared to take any chances. Normal life as we knew it was turned upside down; streets became deserted; and many work places put the padlocks on. There was an eerie feeling about the place.

All the indications now, however, are that the worst has passed but our authorities are infuriatingly slow to respond to the changing reality. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, has done trojan work over the past three months, but his reluctance to support speeding up the lifting of restrictions is difficult to comprehend or justify.

Frankly, it’s time for Leo Varadkar and the Government to take control of the situation. The Taoiseach and Health Minister, Simon Harris, in particular, have laboured night and day in leading the political response, but now is the time to be positive and park the fear, not just for the morale of the country, but also for the economy and the overall health of its citizens.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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