Stephen Donnelly defends level 3 as 'best decision' for the country

Stephen Donnelly, the health minister, said the government has to weigh up public health advice with economic impacts. Picture: Julien Behal

Imposing Level 3 restrictions nationwide is "the best decision on behalf of the country", the health minister has claimed.

Stephen Donnelly has said that case data did not escalate significantly since last week when Level 3 was recommended.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) had advised the Government to bring in Level 5 restrictions across the country in a letter sent over the weekend. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Tony Holohan warned that, otherwise, there will be up to 2,300 Covid-19 cases by November 7.

Mr Donnelly said that although NPHET is tasked to give advice, the government have to deal with the practicalities.

"(NPHET) have done a very good job and I think they will continue to do a very good job. They have to advise government based on public health, and what they believe is required from a public health perspective to suppress this virus," he said, speaking on RTÉ radio.

"Government has a different job. Government has to make decisions, and we have to take that public health advice, in the context of our society, our communities, jobs, and our economy.

"I know there's a lot of talk about not moving to level 5, but let's not lose sight of the fact that move into level three is a very serious thing, and there will be a lot of people listening this morning thinking about how it affects them how it affects their families, how it affects their businesses, how it affects their jobs.

"Well, we've seen what happened to Kildare, Laos and Offaly. That was a move to level three, essentially, and thanks to the work of the communities in those three counties have worked.

"We're also seeing in Dublin, which is obviously using those measures at a much larger scale and in a major urban area of major city, we've seen over the last week or so the number stabilise in Dublin."

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has heavily criticised NPHET's advice, which he claimed "was not thought through" and "should not have happened". 

Speaking on RTÉ television, he hit out at NPHET for "landing this on us as a surprise". 

Mr Donnelly said that although the government "looked carefully" at the advice, they did not believe the data showed it was necessary.

"We look carefully at the evidence, and it is our view that the measures required to move to level 5 as set out in the framework, we don't believe that those measures have yet been met," he added.

"It has deteriorated to the point that we are now moving to level three which is a very significant step, but we don't believe that the data changed between Thursday and Sunday to a level that would warrant moving from level two to level 5.

"I spoke directly to the chief executive of the HSE and asked if the HSE currently has capacity for Covid cases, and an immediate ability to deal with the situation, both in terms of ward beds and intensive care beds, and he believes we do.

"We've made what we believe is the best decision on behalf of the country.

"The government is not about, who's right and who's wrong, it's about trying to make the best decision we can given the evidence we have."

Meanwhile, Minister for Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath said the government and NPHET will have to "reboot" their relationship.

"It's really important that we have a good working relationship with NPHET," he said.

"They are public servants who are working really hard. Many of them are volunteering additional time to provide service to the state, we do value their advice there but we have a duty also to take into account a wider set of factors, that is why we have arrived at the decision that we have.

"But the working relationship needs to be close. There needs to be mutual respect and mutual trust, and I'm sure that we can have a strong working relationship into the future.

"It's been a difficult couple of days, there's no point in saying otherwise but no we have to reboot the relationship because the pandemic is going to be here for quite some time, unfortunately, and we are going to rely on each other to make the right decisions and we do listen very very carefully to what NPHET have to say.

"We have to reboot."