General

Reconsider criteria for what constitute frontline healthcare workers. By Izzy Fox. News of “leftover” vaccines from the Beacon Hospital in south Dublin being given to teachers in St Gerard’s in Bray, the private school where the children of the CEO of the Beacon attend, and to the head of the VHI, has understandably provoked public fury. There have also been reports of childcare providers in the hospital receiving vaccines. While teachers and childcare workers are performing essential frontline duties, there are large numbers of the elderly population and those within cohort 4 of the vaccine rollout plan, deemed to be very high-risk, who remain unvaccinated.  The official government and HSE narrative remains that cohorts 1-4 including frontline healthcare workers, the elderly and vulnerable are currently being prioritised for vaccines. This assertion needs to be challenged for a number of reasons because there is increasing evidence to the contrary, as illustrated by the Beacon story, among other recent examples. At the Coombe hospital in Dublin, vaccines were given to family members of staff and in Offaly, they were administered to workers in the HSE’s finance department. Questions need to be asked as to whether these incidents are reflective of a culture that is endemic.  On a personal note, the Beacon incident is particularly jarring as I work as a Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinator in the only DEIS secondary school in Bray. This job entails forging a link between the school and the parents/guardians of our students as well as supporting the most disadvantaged families in our school community. Home visits are a central part of this role. As a HSCL, I have continued to visit families at home throughout Lockdown and have been happy to do so. However, even though I take every necessary precaution before and after a home visit, such as mask-wearing, social-distancing and hand-sanitising, I am aware of the risk associated with my role.  The HSCL position comes under the umbrella of the Tusla Education Support Service (TESS). Unlike HSCLs, people in the other two strands of TESS, namely, the School Completion Programme (SCP) and the Education Welfare Service (EWS) are currently being vaccinated. This is because TUSLA reached an agreement with the HSE to prioritise its staff, whereas HSCLs fall within the Department of Education’s vaccination plan, meaning that despite being in direct contact with parents and children they were initially placed in cohort 11, along with other teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). However, under the revised rollout plan announced yesterday, cohorts 10 to 15 will now be merged and replaced with an age-based system. This will see those working in education, along with other essential workers, relegated from the priority list.  There are many TUSLA and HSE staff whose jobs normally involve face-to-face engagement who have been instructed to work from home during Level 5 restrictions. These include vital support roles which are currently being carried out from home, yet they are being vaccinated ahead of not only HSCLs and teachers but also SNAs. SNAs essentially perform the duties of frontline healthcare workers, intimately assisting our most vulnerable children and young people as well as administering first aid.  The Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly condemned the Beacon Hospital as HSE sequencing guidelines were not followed, reiterating the official government position that “we are prioritising our most vulnerable”, as well as frontline healthcare workers.  However, the criteria for what constitute frontline healthcare workers need to be reconsidered. For instance, the HSE sequencing guidelines state that prioritisation for vaccines should “be based on the best practical estimate of exposure risk” but counsellors conducting their sessions over Zoom are being vaccinated ahead of vulnerable groups. In addition, there is increasing anecdotal evidence of further inconsistencies in the rollout plan, such as HSE administrators and IT staff, as well as other non-frontline workers and family members receiving the vaccine.   To preserve our fragile social contract people who were told that “we are all in this together” and have recently been asked to “do more” to battle Covid-19 deserve at least to know that there is not widespread abuse of the system. 

Village magazine editorial – February-March In the 1970s boys comics imagined dystopian futures of out-of-control robots and rollerblade axe-fighting.  They were a counterpoint to the humdrum reality for the warless Persil generation.  2021 has opened with dysfunctionality every bit as overwhelming as the most vivid imaginations of 50 years ago feared. We have brought a global plague upon ourselves by preying on recently-damaged ancient ecosystems in the reclaimed wilderness so that species that should never be in contact  are forced upon each other, dead or alive, and eaten.  It spread worldwide in weeks by air travel, the most  unsustainable form of transportation ever invented because of our obsession with the fastest possible global mobilityl. It has been aided by pollution which weakens the lungs of potential victims of the disease.    It has locked down the world so people cannot socialise, for a year. We have pillaged and plundered the gorgeous hills and valleys of our glorious abundant planet. In the last fifty years humans have damaged the earth so much that most life forms, notably including their own, are  precarious.  Humans have wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles and threatened a million species with extinction to the point where we are facing the sixth Great Extinction. Since 1906, the global average  temperature has increased by more than 1.1 degrees. A further .4 of a degree  rise may put 20-30% of species at risk of extinction. Climate change generates  rising seas, hurricanes, floods, droughts and desertification.  It is, then, extraordinary that we are we currently accelerating towards probably 3 to 4 degrees and perhaps, in places, 10 degrees centigrade of apocalypse by the end of the century. A quarter of a billion years ago, a rich and wonderful world was annihilated in the end-Permian extinction when the world warmed the same amount, 10 degrees.   We’ve known about climate change since the 1860s.  We’ve really known about it since around 1988. Yet since then global emissions have ratcheted by 50% and continue to rise, causing and threatening all this, to the point that over the last dozen years it has become a clear and overarching threat to all life.  We’ve disgraced ourselves in our treatment of the planet. We’ve done a little better with ourselves materially, generating profligate, short-term riches for our 7.8 billion master race.  Over the last 30 years, more than 1.3 billion people have surfaced from extreme poverty defined as subsisting on less than $1.90 a day (at 2011 prices), and the global poverty rate is now lower than it has ever been in recorded history. In the 25 years from 1990 to 2020, the extreme poverty rate dropped an average of a percentage point per year – from nearly 36% to 8% (630m people), slowing latterly. Nevertheless inequality is ascendant. On a scale that is inhuman. The world’s ten richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began. The world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet’s population. The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people. Almost half of humanity is living on less than $5.50 a day. And there are huge problems with the quality of life even for those with rising wealth. Community, family and social connections are all under threat. Many people, particularly children, are addicted to de-socialising information technology.   A 2017 study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that 10% of the population worldwide suffer from a mental health disorder. Angst was pervasive in the rich world even before Covid-19. According to Cigna, in 2020 more than three in five Americans are lonely, with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out, poorly understood and lacking companionship. Evil is never far from sight in our world.  The last generation bas brought the Atomic Bomb, the Holocaust, genocides and quasi-religious videoed beheadings.  We allowed democracy to disgrace itself.  The most populous country in the world isn’t even a democracy.  The richest country was run by a sociopathic narcissist who doesn’t believe in science, truth or facts. Our own country’s main political parties obsess over the national question rather than a clear, mature policy platform for the future.  Despite Greens in government we can’t get a Climate Act with teeth. Nobody’s seriously even monitoring inequality.   Nobody cares about the transparency agenda.  Townhall voting, cross-sectoral roundtables, people’s conventions, consensus rather than binary votes, subsidiarity, local governance: all progressive democratic media, none used.  Faced with this travesty the debate focuses on blaming the inept administration of petty politicians and bureaucrats in a pandemic.  Few apply themselves to reducing the chances of another one. Few draw lessons from the pandemic for environmental crisis. It is clear our species is failing and that civilisation may be coming to an end. We must all ask ourselves how will our agendas in 2021 be judged in 100 years. When our house was on fire we retreated to our desktops, and tweeted vituperation about bureaucrats.  We had no vision for the common good, no vision for the future.  And for want of understanding of science we denied we were in crisis until after it was too late and we had made for ourselves that dystopia.

Leo Varadkar has somehow convinced media that he’s not bound by that Act but he is – and faces an even more serious case under the Corruption Act. By Conor Lenihan. The latest twist in the Leo Varadkar leak controversy evokes yet more confusion and doubt. The fact that the Garda have now confirmed that a formal investigation is underway will be severely discomfiting for the former Taoiseach and current Tánaiste. The Varadkar spin-doctors have consistently asserted both his innocence and his entitlement to leak in the ” public interest”. A cursory reading of the Official Secrets Act shows no such entitlement exists. Varadkar himself has anyway already undermined his own defence by his frank admission of having done wrong through a Dáil apology. Why apologise if you are entitled to do this kind of leaking of confidences? Strangely, in their desperation to steer their man out of danger, the Varadkar advisors even managed to convince some media outlets that as a Minister he wasn’t even covered by the Act. This gravity-defying contention is based on a misreading of the Act. All Ministers are not just bound by the Official Secrets Act but also required to sign a letter uncertainly agreeing to be bound by it within a short time of becoming a Minister. A senior official from my Department made an appointment with me  and produced a rather formal letter which, with an impressive solemnity, he insisted I sign there and then. On the day of my appointment the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also assiduously underlined my obligations under the Official Secrets Act. I remember vividly signing to be bound by it when appointed for the first time as a Minister. A senior official from my Department made an appointment with me  and produced a rather formal letter which, with an impressive solemnity, he insisted I sign there and then. It was like a rite of passage in my transition from mere backbench TD to the exalted status of holder of office, and Minister. On the day of my appointment the then Taoseach Bertie Ahern also assiduously underlined my obligations under the Official Secrets Act, formally reminding me of that and other Acts that I  should make myself familiar with – in particular those that covered corruption and ethical misconduct. The point is that a Minister cannot plead ignorance as to their duties with confidential documentation. If other Taoisigh have not been as scrupulous as Ahern on this matter then responsibility rests on the individual Minister to inform himself/herself of their duties. The Varadkar leak has raised eyebrows among both former and current Minister. Not least because the leak was so blatant. Normally Ministers like to remove their own fingerprints from a leaked document, often preferring to have the leak done via an advisor or a discreet civil servant. There has been some puzzlement too among insiders in Leinster House at the media’s obsession with the Official Secrets Act angle on the Varadkar story. Ministers from two separate parties, in the last week, have pointedly brought my attention to Section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act of 2018 which casts a wide definition of corruption to include “obtaining a gift, consideration or advantage” [emphasis added]. Even if Leo Varadkar did not see his leak to a medical-doctor friend as being wrong, once an advantage is passed to one or both, above and beyond competitors, then the Corruption Act is triggered. Conor Lenihan is a former Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation. His biography of Albert Reynolds will be published later this year by the Merrion Press 

We can’t trust our health minister to prioritise vaccination for family carers By David Nolan As a family carer, I have implored the government to classify informal carers on the vaccine rollout list.  Informal carers need vaccination for continuity of care. Why should unpaid family carers providing extraordinary levels of care in the home be treated any differently to paid care workers who are prioritised for the vaccine? The vaccine guidelines are drawn up with a view to preventing deaths and hospitalisations. In many cases, the hospital Emergency Department is the only place a cared for person can be brought to if their family carer is unable to continue caring because of Covid-19. And they will arrive at the hospital as a clear Covid-19-infection risk. I am exasperated but I am not alone. There have been over eighty parliamentary questions from every party and independents. The questions have neen batted away with a disregard and a ‘copy/paste’ dismissal.  The first sign of light came from TD and junior minister Malcolm Noonan in January. He stated that the HSE chief operations office had responded stating we were “likely to be considered as part of the key workers group 6”. David Cullinane TD received the same answer. Family carers have been waiting eagerly since then. We expected something in last month’s revised vaccine schedule. But only silence.  Three weeks ago at leaders questions, Taoiseach and Tánaiste both stated that NIAC had been requested to review the position of family carers and that a report was imminent that week. NIAC is an advisory committee but the responsibility of decision-making lies with cabinet alone The press handler for Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly reiterated the same. The following week hope arrived in the form of an email from Fianna Fáil TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor immediately after the parliamentary party meeting. It said; “I just left a meeting with Minister Donnelly. I want to let you know that family carers (pending NIAC recommendation) will be considered for Cohort 6 of the vaccination queue with carers of children first. I hope this eases your worries somewhat”.  This was verified by a tweet from Virgin political correspondent Gavan Reilly.  Senator Malcolm Byrne also tweeded; “expecting an announcement this week but I am as frustrated as you are with delays. Family carers should be designated as key workers”.  A lot of clear indications which were independently verified. Are we home and hosed? No. Last week, responding to a question from TD David Cullinane, Minister Donnelly stated in the Dáíl that he had heard Murnane O’Connor’s email reported and it did not match his recollection. Murnane O’Connor has ostensibly refuted that claim made by Donnelly on KCLR and to The Sun newspaper. She stands by her interpretation. It seems Donnelly threw her under a bus. The crux of the matter is that Donnelly was involved in a specific discussion where he told Murnane O’Connor and a party meeting that family carers were to be considered for elevation to category 6, or that he had discussed this within the HSE at an operational level.  Then he misled the Dáíl by denying it.  The level of detail, the fact a political correspondent live-tweeted the comments from the party meeting and the fact that a junior minster had a similar line from the HSE in January all nsubverted his deial. Either Donnelly lied to the Dáíl, chucking Murnane O’Connor under a bus, or he does not understand what is happening in his party and in the HSE. I do not know which is worse. Furthermore, if the Taoiseach and Tánaiste were aware of this, kept the public health advice from the public and told the Dáíl that no advice had issued, that would be a minister, Tánaiste and Taoiseach misleading the Dáíl. That is not what happened. Alternatively, ournalist Gavan Reilly, senator Malcolm Byrne, minister Malcolm Noonan and TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor are lying – in unison. Impossible, given that Malcolm Noonan was emailed by the HSE, and given that Murnane O’Connor would not have been alone in discussing family carers. So…If no advice has issued, one year into the pandemic, why not? Family carers as defined in the National Carers strategy 2012 are ‘key care partners’ and all the public and civil service were instructed to recognise that fact. We keep getting told it is a matter of supply and to hold firm as they have only got to cohort 4, but NIAC advice 5.a of the covid vaccine strategy states they see entertainment in cohort 13. Government describes informal carers as “the backbone of care provision in Ireland” yet this government is content with informal carers not featuring in public health advice. This government has broken the social contract with the backbone of care provision.