"Who's running this country! Micheal Martin or Michael O-fecking-Leary?"

My article in yesterday's Irish Independent:

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/its-micheal-martin-not-michael-oleary-who-needs-to-pilot-our-covid-19-course-39399358.html

Full blog version below 👇

“Who is running this country! Micheál Martin or Michael O-Feck-ing Leary?” My 12 year smuggled a radio into his room and listened to Tony Holohan warn that foreign travel was the greatest threat to this country. This was immediately followed by a psychosis inducing Ryanair advert.

The answer of course is Michael O-Feck-ing-Leary. The announcement of the “green (means go) list” of “safe/quarantine exempt” countries that you definitely shouldn’t go to on holiday (wink wink), in contempt of NPHET’s advice, was undoubtedly an aviation lobby victory. Nonetheless, Ryanair is threatening litigation if the Irish government doesn’t open up further.

A week earlier, Philip Nolan, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) warned that of the 23 cases confirmed that day 15 were directly or indirectly related to travel. The team recommend that “all measures are utilised to discourage non-essential travel from overseas to Ireland”, including mandatory quarantine.

Refusal to mandate quarantine is part of the government’s strategy of constructive ambiguity, otherwise known as, fiddling while Rome burns. It’s deployed by politicians pretending to do the right thing, whilst buying time for those who seek to exploit the manufactured mayhem.

The underhand watering down of the wording from “quarantine” to “restricting movements”, with no enforcement, exposes where our government’s loyalty lies.

Micheál Martin claims that he’s acting with caution compared to other European countries. Not so. Ireland and Britain are amongst the only EU countries that are allowing tourists from the US, the Covid capital of the world, into the country. Despite sharing a border, Canada has also banned US tourists.

It’s worth remembering that, when people are moving freely, one contagious person can infect, on average 3 people, who will then potentially infect another three. By the time you multiply that variable 10 times, exponentially the original person could have infected over 88,000 people.

For months, Leo Varadkar exploited constructive ambiguity around mandatory quarantine, citing “legal” issues. Last Wednesday, speaking on RTE radio, Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, said he sought clarity from the attorney general on the legality of quarantine. Turns out it’s legal, but “complex”. Presumably, a resurgence and lockdown 2 is the easy option? 

Minister Donnelly, erroneously claimed that quarantine has proven unworkable, referencing Australia as an example of failure. In fact, quarantine has been extremely effective throughout the country with the exception of Melbourne where security guards breached regulations. Donnelly evaded questions about New Zealand where, as of 23 July, there had been 83 days since the last community transmission case with all 22 active cases detected and contained in quarantine facilities.

Having been assured that mandatory quarantine is legal, presenting no deterrent to acting on the public health advice, Mr Donnelly said he then sought and gained the WHO’s blessing to effectively disregard his own public health experts and not bother with mandatory quarantine.

This was disconcerting, for two reasons, firstly, the WHO is not usually in the business of usurping country based public health advice and secondly, the claim appears to contradict the WHO’s strategic document which states: “Quarantine is included within the legal framework of the International Health Regulations (2005)”. Further: “Member States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to legislate and to implement legislation, in pursuit of their health policies, even if this involves the restriction of movement of individuals”.

Having cited advice from the WHO as grounds for ignoring Ireland’s public health experts, thereby potentially exposing Irish citizens to dangerous levels of community contagion, a crippling second lockdown and preventable deaths, Stephen Donnelly should make details of his alleged WHO advice available for scrutiny.

Listening to Minister Donnelly, I couldn’t help thinking of Dr Syed Waqqar Ali and his seven healthcare colleagues who died from coronavirus, sacrificing their lives to save ours. And, the scandalous revelation that Ireland has the highest coronavirus infection rate among healthcare workers in the world. I felt, acutely, the affront to these people to whom Stephen Donnelly has a direct duty of care. That he would seek to circumvent safeguards to protect them and citizens of this country, against the greatest Covid-19 threat (foreign travel) reduced me to tears of grief, frustration and anger.

Disclaimer: I lost a friend to coronavirus and I have loved ones risking their lives as medics. I am 100% biased in their favour and 0% buying this coalition of chaos’ blaggardery.

With public safety sacrificed at the altar of false gods, robust, fearless, public service broadcasting has never been more vital. Yet last Monday, Eoghan Corry, who advised against cancelling St Patrick's Day festivities, and who recently produced a “post-Covid” airline promo video on Ryanair, told RTE Radio listeners, “Spain is safe”. On the same day that British newspapers reported 200 Covid outbreaks throughout Spain, resulting in Britain imposing a 14 day quarantine on returning holidaymakers.

In the midst of a global pandemic, RTE is either a trusted news source grounded in forensic journalism, underpinned by evidence based health expertise, or a cheerleader for industry. It can’t be both.

Next up, Dr Jack Lambert contradicted the overwhelming medical consensus by defending the “green list”, disingenuously describing 88% of coronavirus cases as “Irish bred”. He should know, because colleagues such as Paddy Mallon, professor of Microbial Diseases, told the Dáil’s Covid-19 committee that, without mandatory quarantine, contact tracing becomes very difficult with community transmission “inevitable” as a result.

Dr Lambert’s reference to “Irish bred” cases of covid also fits with the strategy of constructive ambiguity that shifts the focus from overseas Covid carriers to blaming young people for house parties. The truth is that, had our government followed NPHET’s advice and that of 14 scientific and medical experts calling for the implementation of a zero Covid strategy to eliminate the virus, as New Zealand has done, pubs and local eateries would be open at 100% capacity now with social distancing and masks a thing of the past.

Our children and young people would be enjoying the summer they longed for. Instead they’ve been robbed of their rites of passage, cheated of hope and plagued by fear for the future.

Micheál Martin promised that his decisions on international travel would be underpinned by public health advice. He has reneged on his promise and people will die unnecessarily as a result.