{"id":9768,"date":"2020-10-09T14:07:53","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T13:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=9768"},"modified":"2020-10-09T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T13:07:53","slug":"irish-government-requires-additional-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2020\/10\/09\/irish-government-requires-additional-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Government Requires Additional Insights"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 28th Fintan O\u2019Toole brought a telling revelation to light in an article entitled, \u2018Government ditched its own plan during this crisis<\/span><\/a>\u2019. He claimed that \u2018Within the nexus of experts engaged in the management of the crisis, there are increasing concerns about the systems part of the operation\u2019<\/p>\n

He then revealed that:<\/p>\n

the Government has a very well thought through system for managing emergencies \u2013 but it more or less completely ignores it \u2026 There are reasons why the Government missed the huge part of the crisis that was unfolding in nursing homes and residential institutions. One of them is the tunnel-vision that results from a top-down, command-and-control approach that is utterly at odds with what is supposed to be State policy<\/em><\/p>\n

O\u2019Toole refers to a 60-page document called \u2018Strategic Emergency Management: National Structures and Frameworks\u2019, which specifically envisages \u2018the potential widespread spread of a pandemic\u2019.<\/p>\n

When Covid-19 cases began to multiply, however, \u2018it was shoved in a drawer.\u2019 \u2018Power instead was taken over by the Taoiseach\u2019s department and information was fed into it, primarily by a single body of experts, the National Public Health Emergency Team [NPHET]\u2019, which \u2018lacked voices from the nursing home sector.\u2019<\/p>\n

The mistakes that were made at the height of the pandemic in March\/April, when sick patients were returned to care homes may be traced to defective leadership structures, but at this stage there is little value in pointing the finger of blame, as we may assume that individuals were acting to the best of their abilities under enormous pressure, as epidemiological assessments were projecting a far worse death toll<\/a><\/span> than was ultimately the case.<\/p>\n

But structural problems remain in the organisation. It is high time we re-examined how the government is being advised to bring the population to the promised land of \u2018living with the virus.\u2019 At this stage other forms of advice should be sought. Presumably the government is already receiving significant inputs from the business sector, but other important viewpoints are not part of the conversation.<\/p>\n

Varadkar\u2019s Comments<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In what was a stark reversal of the situtation in late April when Dr Tony Holohan when asked about possible easing of restrictions replied, \u201cI haven\u2019t made up my mind<\/a><\/span>,\u201d the now T\u00e1naiste<\/span> Leo Varadkar identified a growing cleavage in Irish society between the private and public sectors on Claire Byrne Live. He commented that the pay packets of those on NEPHT (and his own) would not be affected by further restrictions and that cabinet would be the ones making any decisions on imposing further restrictions.<\/p>\n

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'None of those people would have faced being on #PUP<\/a>, none of them have to tell someone they are losing their job, none of them will have to shutter a business for the last time' – T\u00e1naiste Leo Varadkar on #NPHET<\/a> #cblive<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZAw7sDxGLo<\/a><\/p>\n

— Upfront with Katie Hannon (@RTEUpfront) October 5, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n