{"id":16571,"date":"2024-05-17T08:10:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=16571"},"modified":"2024-05-17T08:10:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:10:57","slug":"ireland-urgently-requires-a-covid-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/ireland-urgently-requires-a-covid-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland Urgently Requires a Covid Inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

It should be a source of embarrassment that in Ireland we still have had no public inquiry into the State\u2019s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite talk of terms of reference<\/a><\/span>, nothing has materialized, and nor does this situation seem likely to change during the lifetime of new Taoiseach Harris’s government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mainstream media, which received millions in advertising revenue<\/a><\/span> throughout the pandemic, would appear to have no interest in searching questions being asked. It may not be appetising to recall overwhelmingly uncritical coverage; placing the daily tally of new cases and deaths on their front pages news for almost two years; seemingly oblivious to everything else happening in the world.<\/p>\n

Nor does the main opposition party in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, Sinn F\u00e9in seem gung ho for one either. During the pandemic, they failed to interrogate adequately the domineering, even dictatorial, role<\/a> <\/span>of Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan in particular, or the runaway budgets<\/a><\/span> that developed in that period. Despite this spending, our health service appears to be no better equipped to deal with medical emergencies.<\/p>\n

In my view, Sinn F\u00e9in (and other opposition parties) should reconsider this stance as it hands a huge political opportunity to opponents on the far right as we enter a period of elections. The Irish people require accountability on this era-defining response.<\/p>\n

For all its faults, and failure to interrogate basic premises, the U.K. Covid inquiry is at least holding power to account. That inquiry implicitly acknowledges that extraordinary<\/em> and unprecedented<\/em> measures were taken, undermining basic civil liberties, and causing grave harms, including to children denied education and those caught in situations of domestic violence<\/a><\/span>. The damage to our collective mental healths may be more difficult to quantify.<\/p>\n

\n

The pandemic experience in Ireland<\/p>\n

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Frank Armstrong, Editor of Cassandra Voices, an Irish public intellectual forum and online news source, to discuss the pandemic experience in Ireland and what we can expect from a possible Irish Covid Inquiry.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/m9xme5z5Gu<\/a><\/p>\n

— Collateral Global Charity (@collateralglbl) May 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n