Richard Boyd Barrett criticises travel advice after COVID death
Richard Boyd Barrett criticised the government's departure from strict public health advice on foreign travel after a frontline health worker died of COVID-19. He said recent ministerial statements created confusing, mixed messages that risk undermining NEFET guidance and public compliance.
Main criticism
Richard Boyd Barrett told the Taoiseach that abandoning adherence to public health advice on foreign travel was inappropriate on the day another frontline health worker had died as a result of COVID-19. He described the situation as extraordinary and warned that mixed messages would damage public adherence to NEFET guidance.
Confusing ministerial statements
He challenged recent remarks from a minister who had pledged to clarify the position but instead, in Mr Boyd Barrett's words, muddied the waters by effectively saying "we don't want you to go, we'd prefer if you didn't go, but you can go." He argued the guidance was contradictory and compared it to traffic lights showing both green and red simultaneously.
Government response outlined
The Taoiseach responded that the issue of travel and its contribution to COVID-19 is taken seriously and emphasised that the country has one of the most restrictive travel frameworks globally. He said low travel numbers showed general compliance and suggested messages must recognise that some countries have lower incidence of COVID-19 than Ireland.
Public health measures emphasised
The Taoiseach reiterated that testing, contact tracing and strong measures at airports are key to protecting people and managing the risk of imported cases. The exchange highlighted tensions between demands for clearer public messaging and the government's emphasis on testing and border controls.
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Taoiseach, in the programme for government in the section on health the programme said and I quote the government's priority is to protect public health by following public health advice. Now on the day that another frontline health worker has tragically lost their life as a result of COVID-19, do you really think it is a good time to start abandoning adherence to the public health advice of NEFET on the issue of foreign travel. It really is quite extraordinary what is going on. Simon Coveney this morning said he was going to make things clear and then went on to further muddy already murky waters by saying we don't want you to go, we'd prefer if you didn't go, but you can go. That's essentially what the advice is. It's like arriving at a set of traffic lights and the green light and the red light are simultaneously illuminated. Well the red light is on now, Deputy, because we're out of time. It is confusing and clearly it is not in line with the public health advice being issued by NEFET on foreign travel. Thank you, Deputy, time is up. How do you explain that? I think you're overstating the issue, Deputy, and I think we take the issue in terms of travel and its potential contributing effect to COVID very seriously. That's why we have one of the most restrictive travel frameworks globally. We are very restrictive in this country in terms of the numbers of people coming into the country and the advice we have given people. And people by and large have complied with that advice, hence the very, relative to what happened before COVID, the very low numbers that are traveling either in or out of the country. But it is important, though, that, you know, in terms of people, people are traveling to countries that, in my view, have very high incidence of COVID. And it's important to say that there are other countries there that have a lower incidence of COVID than we have ourselves. And I think there has to be a consistency of message there as well. Thank you, T-shirt. Time's up. But the key point, again, I have to reiterate, it's the testing and the contact tracing and having strong measures at our airports to protect people. Thank you, Deputy Matty McGrath.
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