People have Lost Confidence in the Minister for Health as Ireland has the longest workplace restrictions in Europe. – Tóibín
Speaking in the Dáil this morning Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD has stated;
“People have Lost Confidence in the Minister for Health as Ireland has the longest workplace restrictions in Europe. Ireland has had 163 days of workplace closure. This compares to 34 days in Germany. The length and severity of Covid restrictions in Ireland is a outlier. It has been a disaster and it’s a direct result of the catastrophic policies of this government”.
“I've been reliably informed by a consultant psychiatrist that the number of young people presenting to A&E with acute mental health issues is up 130% on the number in 2019. Couple this with the staff shortages in hospitals and the reduction in treatment, the length of lockdown is having a massive toll on the mental health of the people. One of the most frustrating costs of Government failure has been the closures of key aspects of the Health Service. Cancer patients, heart disease patients, stroke patients and patients experiencing Mental Ill Health have had their access to health services massively reduced. An oncologist from Limerick said this week that the health service needs to prepare for an “influx” of seriously ill cancer patients. He said that a large number of cancer patients are presenting with more advanced disease and late diagnosis. Aontú has been one of the few voices in calling for the protection of Cancer, Heart disease, stroke and mental health services”.
“For most of the last year your Government Minister, has radically curtailed the freedoms and liberties of citizens, with a Garda enforced 5km limit, while at the same time you have allowed hundreds of thousands of foreign travellers come to Ireland with little more than filling in a form for protection. People were asked to sacrifice so much while your government resisted protecting our airports. The phrase that describes the journey of your government towards this bill and protections at our airports is “Kicking and Screaming”.
“I asked Leo Varadkar when he was Taoiseach to stop the flights coming from Northern Italy, He said no, I asked him why, he said that because the ECDC said so. I asked them what was the rationale for the decision. He said he did not know. If the manager of a small business was implementing decisions without understanding the rationale he would be gone. Since then the government have been importing the illness. 90% of the Covid cases circulating are the British variant. 90% of cases that exist were seeded by international travel, were seed as a result of your failure to protect”.
“To date this state has inoculated the equivalent population of one county, county Louth. The confusion in vaccine roll out continues unabated. I know of student nurses who have no placement for months but have their first vaccine already. Not only that they have been offered another first dose! In case you missed that Minister they have been offered their second first dose. This is happening while Doctors surgeries are calling me as they cannot get confirmation of vaccine for people over 85 for the next 2 weeks”.
“The glacial pace of vaccine roll out will become even more stark as neighbouring countries reopen ahead of us while Ireland remains buried in Lockdown. Can I ask Minister why did you not procure vaccine in addition to the EU supply chain? Was it cap tipping deference to the EU again? How is it that Germany and Denmark could add significantly to their Vaccine stock and while this country sat quietly at the back of the class”. CRIOCH
