Micheál Martin must prioritise quarantine and border checks
ON TUESDAY, Ireland reported a record 93 deaths with the HSE warning of our hospital system’s “precarious position”. At what point will this Government recognise its policy of living with the virus is taking too high a toll? Within weeks of easing restrictions against Nphet’s advice in December, Ireland ranked worst in the world as Covid19 incidence sky-rocketed. Almost half of all cases reported during the entire pandemic occurred in the first two weeks of January, with the incidence of the disease 20 times greater than in early December.
As of last night, Ireland has 179,324 reported cases and 2,768 Covid-19 deaths. Suaimhneas síorai dóibh uile. Last week, when asked by Pat Kenny if he was ashamed, Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s response was muted. He dismissed claims that the current catastrophic situation is the direct result of his decision to ease restrictions too soon. Mr Martin blamed the UK variant.
In fact, it was a combination of both opening hospitality and allowing unfettered international travel that created the perfect storm. Mr Martin is responsible for both. Last Friday, Colette Fitzpatrick’s Virgin Media interview with Mr Martin was a masterclass. Her dogged scrutiny was commensurate with the scale of our unfolding crisis. Mr Martin claimed that the public had been clamouring to ease restrictions despite polls in late November indicating that 82pc of people wanted Level 5 restrictions to continue.
It wasn’t the public that was clamouring to open up, it was the lobbyists. Mr Martin also claimed that he had followed Nphet’s advice all along. Not so. He has persistently diluted its advice. The most important, yet underreported, aspect of that advice which hasn’t changed since the outset, is that of mandatory quarantine. Instead, Ireland opted for a “careful now” approach that saw 140,000 people enter the country between December 11 and January 3, half of whom refused to tell officials where they were staying.
On January 14, as reports emerged of two new Brazilian variants, the WHO’s Mike Ryan warned that some countries could be ‘in serious trouble’ if new variants change the rules of the game.
Having already imported the South African and UK variants (which are significantly more transmissible), it’s crucial that the coalition heeds this warning. According to Science Magazine , new evolving variants risk undermining the efficacy of the vaccine, which makes quarantine mandatory and the swift rollout of the vaccine absolutely vital. Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s response has been lacklustre. Last week, he introduced PCR testing for international travellers (something most countries did months ago), despite Nphet warning that they’re not suitable for use in screening asymptomatic people, such as arriving passengers, and that they should therefore be used in conjunction with mandatory quarantine.
On Friday, RTÉ reported that since travel restrictions from South Africa and the UK came into effect on January 9, some 80 passengers refused to produce a PCR test, yet were still permitted entry.
Numerous erroneous excuses have been proffered for rejecting mandatory quarantine. In July, Leo Varadkar claimed it wasn’t legally sound. Freedom of movement, he said, contravened our human rights. But, human rights are interdependent. Therefore, the right to freedom of movement is not absolute. Article 12 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allows restrictions on the right to freedom of movement for reasons of public health and national emergency, where quarantine is required to limit the spread of a deadly disease. Rather than quarantining incomers in a hotel for two weeks, our government opted to quarantine five million Irish citizens in our homes indefinitely instead.
When the Government finally admitted that mandatory quarantine wasn’t illegal, it still refused to implement it.
In July, Simon Coveney said that the Government had considered Nphet’s advice on mandatory quarantine but that “we don’t regard it as an approach that makes sense from an Irish perspective”.
I defy Mr Coveney to explain how 179,000 Covid-19 cases and 2,768 deaths makes sense from any perspective? Contrast our losses with countries that enforced strict mandatory quarantine early on.
New Zealand: population five million, 25 deaths. Thailand: population 63 million, 71 deaths. Taiwan: population 23 million, 7 deaths. Jacinda Ardern shut New Zealand’s borders in March before any deaths were recorded to prevent the virus taking hold. She said she would not countenance herd immunity because it risked killing thousands of New Zealanders saying: “I’m not willing to tolerate that.” With Ireland drowning in chaos and grief, how many more deaths is Micheál Martin prepared to tolerate before mandating quarantine?
Whether by accident or design, Ireland’s handling of Covid-19 unnervingly resembles a herd immunity policy and criminal negligence. Northern Ireland has much been cited as an excuse for not restricting movement on the island or between the UK. Yet, at various times in the pandemic, Wales and Scotland banned visitors from England and Northern Ireland on public health grounds. Plus, if border checks could be deployed to stop the spread of foot and mouth in 2001, why can’t it be done to protect lives in a pandemic?
Asked by the Irish Mirror who would be responsible for increased deaths after the government rejected Nphet’s advice in October, Stephen Donnelly responded: “The virus is responsible.”
If you accept power, you don’t get to evade responsibility.
Mr Martin dismissed claims that the current situation is the result of his decision to ease restrictions