Our leaders in Covid fight must be more transparent to public

WE DON’T expect our leaders to have all the answers, particularly in the middle of this prolonged crisis. At the very least, however, we expect clear communication. That was missing this week when Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was tackled on the vaccine rollout by our sister paper, the Irish Daily Mail, during a press conference – the first time since December he had submitted to one.

This moment encapsulated a lot of the problems with the current leadership of the pandemic response. There is not enough transparency, and too much oldstyle politics, at play.

The Government can be given a certain amount of latitude, because the facts around Covid19 and vaccine supplies change week to week. There is no latitude, however, when it comes to the need for clear, concise and decisive leadership.

Micheál Martin spoke on the radio last week to reveal that despite society’s growing hopes that something might be salvaged of 2021, the reality is another grim year in prospect. In contrast to Mr Donnelly, however, the calm and measured manner in which he addressed the topics helped to reassure the public that he was at least engaged in the key challenges facing the nation, from reopening schools to the vaccine rollout to travel restrictions.

Subsequently this week, a false narrative has been allowed to develop with Zero-Covid advocates on one side, and a much more cautious approach on the other. In reality, the issue of hotel quarantine is not about suppressing the virus to zero. It is a policy to prevent the spread of concerning new variants of the disease.

If the Taoiseach or the minister honestly think that the travel restrictions announced this week will give confidence to citizens who have been restricted to their homes for the past five weeks and face further restrictions on their travel, they are fooling only themselves.

The idea that we should trust people who have decided that during a Level Five lockdown a holiday in the sun is worth more than contributing to a national solidarity effort to stay at home is laughable.

Gardaí will be unable to enforce this, even with new legislation, so the question has to be asked – what is it that is preventing the government from implementing a policy that has widespread popular support.

Reasonable people accept that Zero-Covid cannot be achieved given the unique context Northern Ireland places us in.

However, voters can’t see any evidence of their government engaging with its counterparts in the North to find a creative solution to the problem.

Vaccines are the only hope holding a fragile society together at this moment in time. There are real concerns that new variants will overtake the current vaccines. The public will not forgive any unnecessary extension of our pandemic shutdown. Nor will they accept any political posturing while there are serious questions about policy to be answered.

KEEP HEALTH COVER INTACT FOR ELDERLY

SOME health insurance companies are removing or altering cover for treatments typically needed by older people. These include hip and knee replacements and eye surgery. There are many policies still available that offer full cover.

However, we cannot allow this to become the thin end of a wedge to create a health system that favours the young.

We have in place equalisation measures to make sure cover is available for people at the time in their lives when they most need it. We cannot allow this to be eroded by stealth.