Mattie McGrath accuses Taoiseach and minister of blocking Covid debate
Mattie McGrath criticised the Taoiseach and the minister for preventing a proper debate and for poor messaging around Covid. He said the lack of scrutiny and waived speeches are undermining public confidence and demanded a clear explanation.
Central complaint
McGrath said it is "downright unbelievable" that the Taoiseach would not allow a debate. He argued that members cannot scrutinise because speeches of scrutiny are waived and they do not get a chance to debate properly.
Concerns about messaging and public trust
He accused the Taoiseach and the minister of having "spectacularly dropped the ball" on messaging and said the public cannot be expected to have faith when parliamentarians themselves are unsure. He warned that the current approach looks like "hiding from the Covid community" and described it as a charade.
Record of previous support
McGrath emphasised that he and others had been supportive of everything the current, previous and interim governments had done, but said this refusal to allow debate was unacceptable and let the side down badly.
Demand for clarity and logical decisions
He called for "drained up thinking" and logical decisions accompanied by a proper explanation so politicians can explain the situation to the public. McGrath pressed for the opportunity to scrutinise and debate so trust can be rebuilt.
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I'm very disappointed in your Taoiseach because not only have you and your minister spectacularly dropped the ball and the whole messaging out there, we're trying to rebuild that and we have been supportive of everything that you have done and the previous government as well and the interim government but this is downright unbelievable that you won't allow a debate. We cannot scrutinise, we waive speeches of scrutiny and we don't get a chance to debate properly in here and we see this literally hiding from the Covid community. It's a charade and people out there know it for what it is. We need drained up thinking, we need logical decisions but a proper explanation so that we can explain to our public what's going on. We don't know ourselves so how can we expect the people to have faith in it and you're letting the side down badly.
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