Matt Shanahan on Omicron, restrictions and mixed messaging
Matt Shanahan spoke about the bill to extend emergency health legislation and argued for time-limited powers and cautious use of restrictive measures due to the Omicron variant. He said he is not a fan of restrictions but supported measures to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed and criticised mixed public health messaging.
Bill under debate
The bill covers the continuation and operation of the Health Preservation and Protection and Emergency Measures Act, enforcement powers and the Health Amendment Act No. 2. He said the measures are presented as necessary in the public interest to address the continuing and grave risk to life and public health posed by COVID-19.
Vaccines, restrictions and system risk
He credited society and COVID vaccines with putting the country in a better place than a year earlier and noted a high vaccine take-up rate. Nevertheless, he warned that a more transmissible Omicron variant could cause higher national infection levels that would lead to more people becoming significantly ill and could overwhelm hospital capacity; he said restrictive powers must be last resorts and have definite end dates.
Concerns about travel testing and antigen use
He criticised delays in implementing arrival testing rules that require professionally administered antigen tests within 48 hours or PCR within 72 hours. He gave the example of a Galway resident who faced high costs for UK antigen tests and questioned relying on antigen testing in a way it was never intended to be used without follow-up testing days after return.
Public health communication and advisory role
He criticised mixed messaging from public health and government, asking when NPHET will advise only the government and stop addressing the public directly. He argued that government should take sole responsibility for public health communications to reduce ambiguity, and said public health authorities should acknowledge other voices that have at times been proven correct.
Committee reports and vitamin D
He highlighted Oireachtas health committee reports that recommended expanded antigen testing and examined vitamin D supplementation, saying both have been resisted or ignored by senior public health figures. He noted there are many EU reports advocating vitamin D as a potential mitigating action and referenced a year-long Irish study recently published linking low vitamin D concentrations to adverse outcomes.
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The Minister, we are debating again a serious policy tonight, a bill to provide for the continuation and operation of the Health Preservation and Protection and Emergency Measures Act, the Criminal Injustment Enforcement Powers, the Health Amendment Act No. 2, and we are doing these in respect to the public interest and having regard to the continuing and manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of COVID-19. And also to mitigate, where practicable, the effects of the spread of the disease and to provide for related matters. That's the lead-in from the Oireachta site. Minister, I listen to science. I took account of swabbing, masks, testing, tracing, ventilation, social distancing, rapid and not so rapid testing. And the truth is, we would not be in the positive space we are in presently, were it not for our society, and were it not for the development of COVID vaccines, that have singularly put us into a better place than where we could possibly have hoped to have been 12 months ago. And we have one of the highest vaccine take-up rates in Europe at the present time. But that being said, there are still many decrying the actions taken to date, the mandatory implementation of restrictions, the closing of business, the closing of schools, the restrictions to civil liberties, etc. The Omicron variant is still being assessed for higher transmissibility. And the key to understanding restrictions is to understand that a higher level of infection nationally will lead to a higher number of people significantly ill. These additional sick people combined with our present hospital population will completely overwhelm our healthcare system. This is what we are trying to defend against. Minister, I am not a fan of restrictions. I am a member of the regional independent group who were first to propose an amendment in this House that we would have a sunset clause to the legislation that you were proposing to extend. And in my last contribution to you some weeks ago, I asked that you would not return to this House without seeking a new mandate for an extension of powers. But that being said, the new variant has now become the new game-changer, unfortunately. And we cannot afford to delay in trying to suppress this virus in our general population and society. Some of the powers being preferred here, Minister, including the right to detain people under certain circumstances, need to be powers that are exercised only as a last resort. And we need a definite date for their termination. Minister, can I speak to you about what we are doing and possibly what we are not doing? Regarding air travel, we have not yet implemented a testing system which has been announced delayed for another 48 hours. That being that arrivals into this state, whether vaccinated or not, will require a negative COVID-19 test result. And that those travelling with an antigen test result would need it done within 48 hours of arrival into the country. And it must be professionally administered. Those with the PCR test result have a longer window of 72 hours. Can I reflect on what a Galway man has passed on to me, Minister? He is travelling to Birmingham tonight with three other family members. And he has booked antigen tests in the UK at a cost of £116 sterling. He and his family are returning Sunday night. And therefore, rapid testing may not detect a virus that he can contract and pick up in the UK and return into Ireland freely with. Minister, you know I have lobbied for antigen testing for close to two years. Why are we using them now in a fashion that we know is ineffective? Why haven't we not required subsequent antigen or PCR testing days later for those who are returning on flights from abroad? Communications is a key issue here, Minister. And one would ask how senior establishment figures who rubbished antigen testing for over 12 months can suddenly embrace it. And then purpose it in a way for which it was never intended to be designed or to be used. I might also ask the question, Minister, given that we are being asked to extend these health regulations. At what point will NPHET solely advise the government and stop advising the people? We have had various examples of recommendations from public health where government has either challenged, endorsed or ignored the advice. This mixed messaging is causing further anxiety and some level of distrust in our general population. Leaders lead, Minister. Followers, follower. The failure of public health to acknowledge other voices who have been proven correct on many occasions continues to be a significant cause of concern to me and to many. I believe public health messaging now needs to be curtailed solely to government communications and that government should solely advocate public health actions and then accept that responsibility. I think a decision where government exercises sole initiatives and responsibility would reduce the ambiguity and the mixed messaging and that is causing distress to many in our population. Can I speak also, Minister, about some reports that were done nationally, not by public health, but actually by our Oireachtas committees. One of the key reports done by our health committee was around antigen testing, which that committee strongly recommended, but it was resisted up until recently. And a second report, a health committee report on the potential of vitamin D supplementation was also published, but it too has been ignored and it continues to be ignored, most especially by our senior and our most prominent public health visionaries. Minister, there are thousands of reports across the EU advocating vitamin D supplementations as a mitigating action to COVID-19 infection and serious disease progression. And indeed, in Ireland, a year-long study has now been completed charting the possible relationships between low vitamin D concentration and adverse outcomes, and it has been published in Irish medical journals recently. It is not the double-blind, randomised, controlled trial protocol demanded by our public health officials. Singurally demanded, it can be said, and it can never be, as we cannot deprive a control group of vitamin D. There is significant and ample evidence here to base a public campaign around vitamin D supplementation across society, and yet we still continue to ignore what is certainly a simple and probably a very beneficial COVID mitigation exercise. In terms of the health restrictions and the possibility of extending them further, we must support the hospitality industry minister. The recent announcements to reduce employer supports and temporarily the support to redundant employees must be rethought in light of new public health restrictions and messaging. While the public sector and the multinational sector have continued to function largely without financial impact, this is not true of SMEs. They apply close to a million people in this country. And minister, if we are all in this together, then no one must be left behind. We are unfortunately again as a country facing into a very difficult Christmas and New Year. We are not on our own in facing this challenge as a resurgence of COVID is across Europe and indeed the world. But we must learn to learn from our past mistakes. We cannot continue to delay, minister. We cannot continue to deny. We cannot continue to defend our recent failures brought about by our own failure to act in a timely and in a supportive way. We have to rely on the full analysis of the scientific community, national and international. But we have to act in defence of the science and we must act quickly and utilise all available technology to mitigate this pandemic. Most of all, minister, people want clarity. And if there are significant further restrictions in the offering, government needs to be straight now with the people and explain what it is doing and why it is doing it. And why there are no other choices or no other better possibilities. It is time for government to become proactive minister in the fight against COVID. And to use all of the state's intellect and all of the state's intellectual actors to design the best way out of this pandemic. We cannot just wait for multiple European reports to tell us what our hospital doctors and our medical community have been saying for months now without being listened to. We need to retrace our steps in terms of community care and hospital care. We need to ensure that every resource available is being brought to bear now to try and suppress this latest wave of COVID-19. We need the public to be fully on board minister and for that we need factual action and not listening to the voices advocating science fiction. Come on, I'll go, come call it.
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