Questions Raised About Government Handling of Crisis
Peadar Tóibín TD, leader of Aontú, stated today:
"The following are the issues I raised with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health in relation to Covid-19.
There is a significant lag in test results. This means that the picture we have of the virus in the community in large part is out of date.
The delay in test results means that there is now contact tracing of people who don’t have the virus.
What testing and risk assessment is happening in Airports?
How deep is the Memorandum of Understanding of cooperation with the north of Ireland?
What negotiations have happened with the EU to allow the European Central Bank to print money for Nation States to pay for this crisis and to avoid billions in sovereign debt?
What role does the government have when firms such as Tara Mines decide to go back to work?
Should a person who is living with a family member who is at risk due to an underlying health condition, stay at home? And if so what financial supports will they get?
Will the government start to develop and Exit Strategy now so that families, workers and businesses can start to plan how to extricate society from the current lock down when the crisis eases?
Will the Minister ensure that PPE is getting down to small hospitals and nursing homes?
Given that we are 9 weeks into this crisis and negotiations are still ongoing with private companies for critical materials such as Testing Reagents should the government not direct these firms to re-purpose manufacturing facilities to produce what is necessary?
Aontú believe that the Dáil must remain functioning either through a larger venue to allow social distancing or electronically. Right now there is no government with a mandate, no leaders' questions, no ministers questions, no ability to legislate, no oireachtas committees, no government scrutiny, no government oversight. This is the largest crisis in 100 years and shockingly TDs in Labour & FG want to stop the Dáil meeting at all."
