Confusion as Government statements on indoor dining certs are further clarified
Although the Government expects the majority of people will receive a DCC, those who cannot for whatever reason will be able to get a recovery cert from their local GP.
The Government's messaging around indoor dining is in chaos after a third clarification was sent out in eight hours.
At 8am today, Arts Minister Catherine Martin announced that if a person has recovered from Covid-19, they can "apply to your GP" or "apply to a test centre after you've received that positive PCR test and that would be valid for 180 days". A letter from GPs would be valid to enter a restaurant, she added.
GPs indicated after Ms Martin's announcement that there was no consultation with them about the provision of "recovery certs" for people who had Covid who wish to access indoor hospitality.
Doctors Illona Duffy from Monaghan and Ray Walley from Dublin both told RTÉ radio’s show that their practices were already under pressure and having to provide such letters would add to their workload.
“It’s madness to state that GPs will do this,” Dr Duffy said of Ms Martin's comments.
She said it was “deeply unfair” to announce the details on the airwaves.
Dr Duffy said her representative body, the Irish Medical Organisation, had issued a letter stating that GPs will not be issuing certificates. GPs would not always have all the details of patients who claimed to have had Covid and pointed out that the HSE had the details of who had tested positive.
Dr Walley said the first that GPs had heard about their involvement in issuing recovery certs was on the airwaves. Doctors were already coping with their normal clinical workload, along with vaccines. They did not have the data to issue such certificates.
After 10am, Minister of State Ossian Smyth apologised for the misunderstanding caused by comments made by Ms Martin.
Doctors would not be involved in the issuing of such certs, “I will be issuing the recovery certs,” he said.
If anyone had tested positive, they should not involve their GP. They should contact the call centre which has been established. The call centre will have a record of all cases and can issue the cert, he explained.
If a person had not done a test then they cannot be issued with a recovery cert, nor can people who tested positive in another country, he said.
The number of people who had tested positive in the past six months was 100,000, Ms Smith, explaining that this was small in comparison with the 2m people who had been vaccinated.
The recovery cert will be issued only to people who had tested positive and recovered in the past 180 days.
At 2.30pm, a third clarification was issued, that Ms Martin was in fact correct in her statement that doctors could provide "recovery certs" for indoor hospitality only, and not travel.
A statement from the Department of Tourism said: "Minister Catherine Martin stated this morning that people can go to their GP, test centre, or call the helpline to obtain a Covid-19 recovery certificate.
"To clarify, as set out above the legislation being brought forward is enabling legislation, and the detail will be worked out by way of Regulation over the coming days, and introduced following the enactment of the bill.
"The legislation defines (as set out above) 'proof of immunity' as a digital Covid certificate (DCC), or 'a form of proof of recovery from Covid-19 as may be prescribed in regulations'.
"This could include a letter from a relevant medical person (including a GP), which was agreed by Government yesterday, and this is what the minister was referring to this morning. However, it is envisaged that the DCC will be the primary source of verification. "
Although the Government expects the majority of people will receive a DCC, those who cannot for whatever reason will be able to get a recovery cert from their local GP.
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